Methods of manufacturing a plurality of discrete objects from a body of material created by additive manufacturing

ABSTRACT

A system for manufacturing a discrete object from an additively manufactured body of material including a precursor to a discrete object and at least a reference feature is disclosed. The system includes an automated manufacturing device, the automated manufacturing device including at least a controller configured to receive a graphical representation of precursor to a discrete object, receive a graphical representation of at least a reference feature on the precursor to the discrete object, and generate a computer model of the body of material, wherein the computer model of the body of material includes the graphical representation of the precursor to the discrete object and the graphical representation of the at least a reference feature.

This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 62/530,419, filed on Jul. 10, 2017, andtitled “METHODS OF MANUFACTURING A PLURALITY OF DISCRETE OBJECTS FROM ABODY OF MATERIAL CREATED BY ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING,” which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of subtractivemanufacturing. In particular, the present invention is directed tomethods of manufacturing a plurality of discrete objects from a body ofmaterial created by additive manufacturing.

BACKGROUND

Many types of objects are manufactured using rotary-tool milling andother types of subtractive manufacturing processes. Typically, a singleobject is or multiple objects are made from a single body of material,such as a block or slab of steel or aluminum. For example, steel andaluminum parts for any of a wide variety of assemblies are oftenmachined from individual bodies of material using one or more millingmachines. However, making such machined parts can be labor intensive asoperators load and unload individual bodies of material to and frommilling machines. In addition, geometries are generally limited to thosethat can be manufactured economically by a subtractive manufacturingprocess.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In an aspect, a system for manufacturing a plurality of discrete objectsfrom an additively manufactured body of material from a computer modelof an additively manufactured body of material is described. Theadditively manufactured body of material includes at least a precursorto a plurality of discrete objects, at least an extension, and at leasta reference feature and a graphical representation of the at least aprecursor to the plurality of discrete objects to be machined from theadditively manufactured body of material. The system includes anautomated manufacturing device. The automated manufacturing deviceincludes at least a controller configured to receive a graphicalrepresentation of the at least a precursor to the plurality of discreteobjects to be machined from the additively manufactured body ofmaterial, receive a graphical representation of the at least anextension, receive a graphical representation of the at least areference feature, receive a graphical representation of a first planeand a graphical representation of a second plane, and generate thecomputer model of the additively manufactured body of material, whereinthe computer model of the additively manufactured body of materialincludes the graphical representation of the first plane, the graphicalrepresentation of the second plane, the graphical representation of theat least a precursor to the plurality of discrete objects to be machinedfrom the additively manufactured body of material, the graphicalrepresentation of at least an extension, and the graphicalrepresentation of the at least a reference feature.

In another aspect, a method of manufacturing a discrete object from anadditively manufactured body of material, the additively manufacturedbody of material including at least a precursor to a plurality ofdiscrete objects, at least an extension, and at least a referencefeature is described. The method includes receiving a graphicalrepresentation of the at least a precursor to the plurality of discreteobjects to be machined from the additively manufactured body ofmaterial. The method includes receiving a graphical representation ofthe at least an extension. The method includes receiving a graphicalrepresentation of the at least a reference feature. The method includesreceiving a graphical representation of a first plane and a graphicalrepresentation of a second plane. The method includes generating thecomputer model of the additively manufactured body of material. Thecomputer model of the additively manufactured body of material includesthe graphical representation of the first plane, the graphicalrepresentation of the second plane, the graphical representation of theat least a precursor to the plurality of discrete objects to be machinedfrom the additively manufactured body of material, the graphicalrepresentation of at least an extension, and the graphicalrepresentation of the at least a reference feature.

These and other aspects and features of non-limiting embodiments of thepresent invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art uponreview of the following description of specific non-limiting embodimentsof the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, the drawings show aspectsof one or more embodiments of the invention. However, it should beunderstood that the present invention is not limited to the precisearrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method ofmanufacturing a plurality of discrete objects from an additivelymanufactured body of material in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an exemplary additively manufacturedbody of material prior to subtractively forming a discrete object fromthe additively manufactured body of material in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of an exemplary at least a precursor to aplurality of discrete objects in accordance with an embodiment

FIG. 3B is a perspective view of an exemplary at least a precursor to aplurality of discrete objects with at least an extension in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an exemplary manufacturing device inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an exemplary additively manufacturedbody of material in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an additively manufactured body ofmaterial with a support in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 7A is a cross-sectional view of an additively manufactured body ofmaterial with a support in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view of an additively manufactured body ofmaterial with a support in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an exemplary additively manufacturedbody of material with a temporary support frame in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 9A is a partial cross-sectional view of temporary support framewith a support leg and reference feature in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 9B is a partial cross-sectional view of temporary support framewith a support leg and reference feature in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an exemplary additively manufacturedbody of material in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of an exemplary plurality of discreteobjects in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of an exemplary plurality of discreteobjects in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of generatinga computer model of an additively manufactured body of material inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view illustrating an exemplary graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to a plurality of discreteobjects in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view illustrating an exemplary graphicalrepresentation of a plurality of discrete objects in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view illustrating an exemplary graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to a plurality of discreteobjects with a graphical representation of at least an extension inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a perspective view illustrating an exemplary graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to a plurality of discreteobjects with a graphical representation of at least an extension and agraphical representation of at least a reference feature in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of generatinga machine-control instruction set adapted to control machining equipmentto machine a plurality of discrete objects from an additivelymanufactured body of material in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of generatinga machine-control instruction set adapted to control machining equipmentto machine a plurality of discrete objects from an additivelymanufactured body of material in accordance with an embodiment; and

FIG. 20 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of acomputing device in the exemplary form.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In one aspect, the present invention is directed to methods ofmanufacturing a plurality of discrete objects from a body of materialcreated by additive manufacturing. Examples of discrete objects that canbe manufactured using techniques disclosed herein include, but are notlimited to, finished parts that may ultimately be assembled into afinished product (such as consumer products, military equipment,commercial equipment, among others), precursors to finished parts (suchas precursors that may require further processing to create finishedparts for assembly), finished standalone products, and precursors tofinished standalone products, among others. Herein the terms “part” and“object,” and the plural forms of these terms, may be usedinterchangeably. It is noted that for any given additively manufacturedbody of material, multiple discrete parts may all be identical to oneanother or may all be different from one another or some may beidentical and others may be different. As used herein, a “precursor” toa finished discrete object may be an object that requires furtherprocessing to become a finished discrete object; e.g., an objectliberated from a body of material from which it is made or additivelymanufactured, for which further processing steps are required to producea finished object or an object that by subtractive manufacturingachieves one or more tolerances, flatnesses, surface finishes and/orfeatures.

An additively manufactured body of material may be produced by anadditive manufacturing process. In an embodiment, an additivemanufacturing process is a process in which material is addedincrementally to a body of material in a series of two or moresuccessive steps. A material may be added in the form of a stack ofincremental layers; each layer may represent a cross-section of anobject to be formed upon completion of an additive manufacturingprocess. Each cross-section may, as a non-limiting example be modeled ona computing device as a cross-section of graphical representation of theobject to be formed; for instance, a computer aided design (CAD) toolmay be used to receive or generate a three-dimensional model of anobject to be formed, and a computerized process may derive from thatmodel a series of cross-sectional layers that, when deposited during anadditive manufacturing process, together will form the object. Stepsperformed by an additive manufacturing system to deposit each layer maybe guided by a computer aided manufacturing (CAM) tool. In anembodiment, a series of layers are deposited in a substantially radialform, for instance by adding a succession of coatings to the workpiece.Similarly, a material may be added in volumetric increments other thanlayers, such as by depositing physical voxels in rectilinear form orother forms. Additive manufacturing, as used in this disclosure, mayinclude manufacturing done at an atomic or nano level. Additivemanufacturing may also include manufacturing bodies of material that areproduced using hybrids of other types of manufacturing processes; forinstance, additive manufacturing may be used to join together twoportions of a body of material, where each portion has been manufacturedusing a distinct manufacturing technique. A non-limiting example may bea forged body of material; an example of a forged body of material mayhave welded material deposited upon it, which then comprises an additivemanufactured body of material.

Deposition of material in an additive manufacturing process may beaccomplished by any suitable means. Deposition may be accomplished bystereolithography, in which successive layers of polymer material aredeposited and then caused to bind with previous layers using a curingprocess such as curing using ultraviolet light, for example. Additivemanufacturing processes may include “three-dimensional printing”processes that deposit successive layers of powder and binder; thepowder may include polymer or ceramic powder, and the binder may causethe powder to adhere, fuse, or otherwise join into a layer of materialmaking up the body of material or product. Additive manufacturing mayinclude metal three-dimensional printing techniques such as lasersintering including direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) or laserpowder-bed fusion. Likewise, additive manufacturing may be accomplishedby immersion in a solution that deposits layers of material on a body ofmaterial, by depositing and sintering materials having melting pointssuch as metals, such as selective laser sintering, by applying fluid orpaste-like materials in strips or sheets and then curing that materialeither by cooling, ultraviolet curing, and the like, any combination ofthe above methods, or any additional methods that involve depositingsuccessive layers or other increments of material. Methods of additivemanufacturing may include without limitation vat polymerization,material jetting, binder jetting, material extrusion, fuse depositionmodeling, powder bed fusion, sheet lamination, and directed energydeposition. Methods of additive manufacturing may include addingmaterial in increments of individual atoms, molecules, or otherparticles. An additive manufacturing process may use a single method ofadditive manufacturing, or combine two or more methods. Companiesproducing additive manufacturing equipment include 3D Systems,Stratasys, formLabs, Carbon3D, Solidscape, voxelj et, ExOne,envisiontec, SLM Solutions, Arcam, EOS, Concept Laser, Renishaw, XJET,HP, Desktop Metal, Trumpf, Mcor, Optomec, Sciaky, and MarkForged amongstothers.

Additive manufacturing may include deposition of initial layers on asubstrate. Substrate may include, without limitation, a support surfaceof an additive manufacturing device, or a removable item placed thereon.Substrate may include a base plate, which may be constructed of anysuitable material; in some embodiments, where metal additivemanufacturing is used, base plate may be constructed of metal, such astitanium. Base plate may be removable. One or more support features mayalso be used to support additively manufactured body of material duringadditive manufacture; for instance and without limitation, where adownward-facing surface of additively manufactured body of material isconstructed having less than a threshold angle of steepness, supportstructures may be necessary to support the downward-facing surface;threshold angle may be, for instance 45 degrees. Support structures maybe additively constructed, and may be supported on support surfaceand/or on upward-facing surfaces of additively manufactured body ofmaterial. Support structures may have any suitable form, includingstruts, buttresses, mesh, honeycomb or the like; persons skilled in theart, upon reviewing the entirety of this disclosure, will be aware ofvarious forms that support structures may take consistently with thedescribed methods and systems.

Examples of additively manufactured bodies of material from whichplurality of discrete objects can be made include, but are not limitedto, plates, slabs, blooms, billets, boards, blocks, among many othershapes, including curvilinear and multisided shapes, and any combinationthereof, as set forth in further detail below. As for material(s)composing an additively manufactured body of material, the material(s)may be any suitable material(s), such as metal (solid, sintered, etc.),polymer (solid, foamed, etc.), composite, and multilayer material, amongothers. Fundamentally, there is no limitation on the composition of anadditively manufactured body of material. An additively manufacturedbody of material may include at least one reference datum designed,configured, and located for precisely locating a stabilized workpiecerelative to a manufacturing device, as described in further detailbelow. In an embodiment, and as described in further detail below, anadditively manufactured body of material represents a “near net”discrete object that may share some geometric characteristics with adiscrete object; for instance, an additively manufactured body ofmaterial may visually resemble a discrete object but lack threading,forming to a given tolerance, or one or more features more readilyformed by subtractive manufacturing, for example. Additivelymanufactured body of material may be composed of a plurality ofdifferent materials.

A subtractive manufacturing process may be any suitable subtractivemanufacturing process, such as, but not limited to, rotary-tool milling,electronic discharge machining, ablation, etching, erosion, cutting, andcleaving, among others. Fundamentally, there is no limitation on thetype of subtractive manufacturing process(es) that may be used. In anexample, differing subtractive manufacturing processes may be usedbefore at different stages or to perform different steps of thesubtractive manufacturing process as described below.

If rotary-tool milling is utilized, this milling may be accomplishedusing any suitable type of milling equipment, such as milling equipmenthaving either a vertically or horizontally oriented spindle shaft.Examples of milling equipment include bed mills, turret mills, C-framemills, floor mills, gantry mills, knee mills, and ram-type mills, amongothers. In an embodiment, milling equipment used for removing materialmay be of the computerized numerical control (CNC) type that isautomated and operates by precisely programmed commands that controlmovement of one or more parts of the equipment to effect the materialremoval. CNC machines, their operation, programming, and relation to CAMtools and CAD tools are well known and need not be described in detailherein for those skilled in the art to understand the scope of thepresent invention and how to practice it in any of its widely varyingforms.

Subtractive manufacturing may be performed using spark-erosive devices;for instance, subtractive manufacturing may include removal of materialusing electronic discharge machining (EDM). EDM may include wire EDM,plunge EDM, immersive EDM, ram EDM, or any other EDM manufacturingtechnique. Subtractive manufacturing may be performed usinglaser-cutting processes. Subtractive manufacturing may be performedusing water-jet or other fluid-jet cutting techniques. Fundamentally,any process for removal of material may be employed for subtractivemanufacturing.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an exemplary method 100 of manufacturing aplurality of discrete objects from an additively manufactured body ofmaterial including at least a precursor to the plurality of discreteobjects, at least an extension, and at least a reference feature isillustrated. It is noted that throughout the ensuing figures, each andevery occurrence of elements such as certain spaces, precursors,features, discrete objects, reference features, and interconnectingportions are not labeled for convenience and to avoid cluttering thefigures. However, at least some are labeled, and those skilled in theart will readily understand where these elements exist though they areunlabeled. At optional step 105, where the at least a precursor to theplurality of discrete objects includes a plurality of precursors to theplurality of discrete objects, at least an interconnecting feature thatjoins at least two of a plurality of precursors to a plurality ofdiscrete objects is additively manufactured. At optional step 110, atleast a reference feature on an additively manufactured body of materialis additively manufactured. At step 115, an additively manufactured bodyof material including the at least a precursor to the plurality ofdiscrete objects, the at least an extension, and the at least areference feature is received. At step 120, the additively manufacturedbody of material is located within a manufacturing device using the atleast a reference feature. At step 125, plurality of discrete objectsare formed from the additively manufactured body of material bysubtractive manufacturing. At 130, the plurality of discrete objects areremoved from the manufacturing device.

Referring now to FIG. 2, at step 115, an additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 including the at least a precursor 204 to the plurality ofdiscrete objects, the at least an extension 208, and the at least areference feature 212 is received. Additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 may be additively manufactured using any method orcombination of methods of additive manufacturing described above andthose methods of additive manufacturing readily appreciated by a personof ordinary skill in the art after reading this disclosure in itsentirety. In an embodiment, additively manufacturing additivelymanufactured body of material 200 may include creating a computer modelof additively manufactured body of material 200. Computer model ofadditively manufactured body of material 200 may be created by assigninga plurality of computer models of one or more differing structures tolocations within a computer model of the body of material. Continuingwith the description of an exemplary embodiment, this may be performedin any suitable manner, such as using CAD and/or CAM software having agraphical user interface that allows a user to manipulate graphicalrepresentations of the objects and/or body of material to effectivelyplace or simulate one or more features of additively manufactured bodyof material 200 or of plurality of discrete objects. As part of steps105, 110, or 115 or as part of another step in method 100 notspecifically enumerated, computer model of additively manufactured bodyof material 200 may be configured into a CAM model that in later stepsof method 100 will be used to guide the operation of one or moreadditive manufacturing devices to perform the necessary materialdeposition for forming additively manufactured body of material 200 inthe proper number and sequence of steps.

Still referring to FIG. 2, additively manufactured body of material 200includes at least a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects. Atleast a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects may include atleast a geometric characteristic 216 of the plurality of discreteobjects. At least a geometric characteristic 216 of plurality ofdiscrete objects may be a feature, partial shape, or overall shaperecognizable as similar to a feature, partial shape, or overall shape ofat least a discrete object of the plurality of discrete objects. Forinstance, where a discrete object of the plurality of discrete objects,when completed, has a substantially disc-shaped form, at least aprecursor 204 to the plurality of discrete objects may have a geometriccharacteristic 216 of the discrete object where the at least a precursor204 to the plurality of discrete objects includes a substantiallydisc-shaped form. At least a precursor 204 to plurality of discreteobjects may lack one or more features of the plurality of discreteobjects, such as particular dimensions of the plurality of discreteobjects, offset, beveled, flanged or otherwise varied features, surfacerecesses, grooves, or projections, or the like. Similarly, whereplurality of discrete objects, when completed, includes one or moreholes, at least a precursor 204 to the plurality of discrete objects maypossess a geometric characteristic 216 of the plurality of discreteobjects where the at least a precursor 204 to the plurality of discreteobjects is additively manufactured already possessing at least a hole ofthe one or more holes; at least a hole in the at least a precursor 204to the plurality of discrete objects may lack one or more features of atleast a hole in the plurality of discrete objects, such as threading, aprecise shape, dimensions, or broached features, or the like. At least aprecursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects may include essentiallyall features of the plurality of discrete objects, except for a lack ofsurface, finish, tolerance, or flatness of surfaces. In someembodiments, at least a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objectsrepresents one or more “near net” discrete objects that share mostgeometric characteristics with one or more discrete objects of theplurality of discrete objects; for instance, the at least a precursor204 to the plurality of discrete objects may visually resemble theplurality of discrete objects but lack threading, forming to a giventolerance, forming to a surface finish, forming to a flatness, or one ormore features more readily formed by subtractive manufacturing. In anembodiment, additively manufactured body of material may have somedegree of warping; for instance, where additively manufactured body ofmaterial was produced by a process such as laser powder-bed fusion orDMLS that involves rapid heating and cooling, warping may occur as aresult of the repeated heating and cooling, particularly where a layerwith a larger cross-sectional area is constructed on top of a layer witha smaller cross-sectional area. In an embodiment, warping may bepredicted by a model for additively manufacture body of material;additively manufactured body of material may be constructed with agreater volume than a discrete object to be produced therefrom,permitting subtractive manufacturing to shape discrete object in amanner correcting warping.

Still referring to FIG. 2, as for the material composing precursor to adiscrete object 204, the material may be any suitable material, such asmetal (solid, sintered, etc.), polymer (solid, foamed, etc.), wood,composite, and multilayer material, among others. Precursor to adiscrete object 204 may be a partially manufactured precursor to adiscrete object 204; that is, the precursor to a discrete object 204 maybe produced by performing one or more additive manufacturing steps toproduce discrete object.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, where additively manufactured bodyof material has been constructed on, for instance, a base plate,additively manufactured body of material may be removed from base plateby severing one or more connections between additively manufacture bodyof material and base plate; for instance, additively manufactured bodyof material may be cut from base plate using wire EDM, a buzz saw, a CNCmachine, or other means of cutting or severing material. Additivelymanufactured body of material may similarly be removed or cut from anyother substrate on which additively manufactured body of material wasdeposited. One or more support features, such as one or more supportfeatures constructed to support additively manufactured body of materialduring additive manufacture, may be removed from additively manufacturedbody of material by any process described above for removal of material,including without limitation manual or automated processes. In anembodiment, where additive manufacturing has been performed on a baseplate, the addition of reference features may make it possible tosubtractively manufacture discrete object from multiple directionswithout having to machine away a base plate; for instance, referencefeatures may be created for two or more machining angles, such that whenremoved from base plate precursor may be automatically set up at eachmachining angle using reference features.

In an embodiment, and still referring to FIG. 2, additively manufacturedbody of material may be manufactured from at least a first manufacturingorientation, and discrete object may be subtractively manufactured outof the additively manufactured body of material from at least a secondmanufacturing orientation; at least a second manufacturing orientationmay be distinct from at least a first manufacturing orientation. Toillustrate, at least a first manufacturing orientation may be selectedto optimize additive manufacturing by (i) ensuring that portions havingsmall cross-sectional areas are not used to support portions havinglarge cross-sectional areas, (ii) ensuring that overhanging angles orsurfaces are deposited at angles minimizing a need for supportstructures, and/or (iii) minimizing a total number of layers to bedeposited to create a model. The first of these may reduce warping inmetal additive manufacturing processes. As a non-limiting illustration,a capital letter “H” built from the feet up would be in danger ofwarping at the transition between the legs and the cross-bar of the “H”;if it is instead built from back to front, the cross-sectional area tobe added with each layer remains constant. Further discussion thecapital letter “H,” building back-to-front would require essentially nosupport structures, while building from the feet up would requiresubstantial support structures to support the cross-bar. Similarly,building from back to front can be accomplished using fewer layers,reducing the amount of powder that need be deposited; thus, severalmanufacturing goals in optimizing the manufacture of the capital letter“H” could be met by building from a back-to-front orientation. In morecomplex three-dimensional forms, there may not be a single orientationthat optimizes several goals ideally in this way; persons skilled in theart, upon reviewing the entirety of this disclosure, will be aware ofvarious approaches that may be employed to select an optimalorientation, based on desired attributes or goals of the manufacturingprocess.

Still viewing FIG. 2, at least a second orientation may be selected tomaximize efficiency and/or accuracy of subtractive processes. Forinstance, at least a second orientation may be selected to minimize anumber of set-ups for machining, to ensure that one or more holes may bebored effectively, to maximize the efficiency with which a given volumeof material may be removed, or the like. At least a reference featuremay thus be chosen to orient additively manufactured body of material,as described in further detail herein, in one or more orientationsmaximally efficient for subtractive manufacturing. Interrogation may beused to determine such orientations; alternatively or additionally,machine-control instructions may be generated for a plurality ofpossible orientations, and a set of orientations for manufacturing allfeatures to form from a particular orientation may be selected from theplurality based on machine-control instructions minimizing runtime orotherwise optimizing the subtractive manufacturing process. Personsskilled in the art, upon reviewing the entirety of this disclosure, willbe aware of various ways in which subtractive manufacturing orientationsmay be selected and/or optimized. In an embodiment, a user may specifythe subtractive manufacturing orientations, and such orientations may beautomatedly used to determine position of at least a reference featurein computer modeling processes as described in further detail below.

Still referring to FIG. 2, at least a precursor 204 to plurality ofdiscrete objects may include a single precursor to a single discreteobject of the plurality of discrete objects. At least a precursor 204 toplurality of discrete objects may include a single precursor to aplurality of discrete objects of the plurality of discrete objects; forinstance, the at least a precursor 204 to the plurality of discreteobjects may include a single object that is divided into two or morediscrete objects during the subtractive manufacturing process of step125. At least a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects mayinclude a plurality of precursors, each precursor of the plurality ofprecursors a precursor to one or more discrete objects of the pluralityof discrete objects; the plurality of precursors may include oneprecursor to each discrete object of the plurality of discrete objects.Persons skilled in the art, upon reading the entirety of thisdisclosure, will be aware of many alternative ways in which at least aprecursor to a plurality of discrete objects may be implemented ascontemplated in this disclosure.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 2, method 100 may include manufacturing atleast a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects. For example, atan optional step not shown in FIG. 1, at least a precursor 204 toplurality of discrete objects may be additively manufactured; the atleast a precursor 204 to the plurality of discrete objects may beadditively manufactured using any method of additive manufacturing asdescribed above. In some embodiments, additively manufacturing at leasta precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects includes creating acomputer model of the at least a precursor 204 to the plurality ofdiscrete objects, for instance as described in further detail below inreference to FIG. 13. Computer model of at least a precursor 204 toplurality of discrete objects may be created by assigning a plurality ofcomputer models of one or more differing structures to locations withina computer model of the at least a precursor 204 to the plurality ofdiscrete objects. This may be performed in any suitable manner, such asusing CAD and/or CAM software having a graphical user interface thatallows a user to manipulate graphical representations of plurality ofdiscrete objects and/or at least a precursor 204 to the plurality ofdiscrete objects to effectively place or simulate one or more featuresof the at least a precursor 204 to the plurality of discrete objects orof the discrete object. As part of step 105 or as part of another stepin method 100 not specifically enumerated, computer model of precursorto a discrete object 204 may be configured into a three-dimensionalmodel such as a CAM model, STL model, or the like that in later steps ofmethod 100 will be used to guide the operation of one or more additivemanufacturing devices to perform the necessary material deposition forforming precursor to a discrete object 204 in the proper number andsequence of steps. Computer model of at least a precursor 204 toplurality of discrete objects may be configured into a CAM model that inlater steps of method 100 will be used to guide the operation of one ormore additive manufacturing devices to perform the necessary materialdeposition for forming the at least a precursor 204 to the plurality ofdiscrete objects in the proper number and sequence of steps. In otherembodiments, at least a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objectsis manufactured using other manufacturing techniques, including withoutlimitation any manufacturing process described above, or any combinationof manufacturing processes described above. Additively manufacturing atleast a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects may includeadditively manufacturing at least a geometric characteristic 216 of theplurality of discrete objects. In an embodiment, at least one structureof plurality of structures may be received from a third party, orreused.

Still referring to FIG. 2, additively manufactured body of material 200includes at least an extension 208. At least an extension 208 may beconstructed from any material or combination of materials suitable forthe construction of additively manufactured body of material 200. Insome embodiments, where at least a precursor 204 to plurality ofdiscrete objects includes a plurality of precursors to the plurality ofdiscrete objects, the at least an extension 208 includes at least aninterconnecting feature 220 that joins at least two of the plurality ofprecursors to the plurality of discrete objects. At least aninterconnecting feature 220 may join at least two of plurality ofprecursors to plurality of discrete objects to form a stabilizedworkpiece. In an embodiment, a stabilized workpiece is a workpiece eachelement of which is sufficiently immobilized throughout a manufacturingprocess to maintain integrity of a coordinate system used by amanufacturing device to compute manufacturing steps. Thus, in astabilized workpiece, additively manufactured body of material 200, orat least a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects, does not fallout of the stabilized workpiece or shift its position within thestabilized workpiece during the subtractive manufacturing process ofstep 125. At least an interconnecting feature 220 may be constructedwith sufficient strength and rigidity to resist forces exerted onstabilized workpiece during subtractive manufacturing. For instance, theat least an interconnecting feature 220 may include an elementconstructed as a bridge between two precursors of plurality ofprecursors to plurality of discrete objects; the element may be justthick enough, given the material out of which the element isconstructed, to resist forces exerted on the element by subtractivemanufacturing. Element may include cross-bracing or other structuralfeatures permitting the element to resist subtractive manufacturingforces with a minimum of material; where the element is made ofhigher-strength material, for instance the element may be constructedwith a slimmer cross-sections, for instance to save on material costs orto make the overall manufacturing process more rapid. As a non-limitingexample, at least an interconnecting portion may include one or morestrips of material. Any two precursors of at least a precursor 204 to atleast a discrete object may be connected by a single interconnectingportion or by a plurality of interconnecting portions. In an embodiment,bridging forms have a uniform thickness to aid in later removal asdescribed in further detail below.

At optional step 105, and still referring to FIG. 2, at least aninterconnecting feature 220 that joins at least two of a plurality ofprecursors to a plurality of discrete objects may be additivelymanufactured. At least an interconnecting feature 220 may be additivelymanufactured according to any process or combination of processes foradditive manufacturing as described above. At least an interconnectingfeature 220 may be manufactured as a function of plurality of precursorsto plurality of discrete objects; for instance, at least aninterconnecting feature 220 may be additively manufactured to have afirst end attached to a first precursor of the plurality of precursorsto the plurality of discrete objects and a second end attached to asecond precursor of the plurality of precursors to the plurality ofdiscrete objects. Plurality of precursors to plurality of discreteobjects may be placed in a desired arrangement prior to manufacture ofat least an interconnecting feature 220; for instance, plurality ofprecursors may be spaced apart sufficiently to allow amanufacturingdevice to perform subtractive manufacturing steps on the plurality ofprecursors to the plurality of discrete objects. Plurality of precursorsto plurality of discrete objects may be additively manufactured in thesame manufacturing process during which at least an interconnectingfeature 220 is manufactured. FIG. 3A illustrates an exemplary embodimentof a plurality of precursors to plurality of discrete objects prior tothe construction of at least an interconnecting feature 220. FIG. 3Billustrates an exemplary embodiment of a plurality of precursors toplurality of discrete objects after the manufacture of at least aninterconnecting feature 220. It should be noted that plurality ofprecursors to plurality of discrete objects may be constructed in thesame additive manufacturing process as at least an interconnectingfeature 220, as well as before or after the construction of at least aninterconnecting feature 220.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 2, the at least an extension 208 may includeat least a support leg 220 extending from at least one of at least aprecursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects. At least a support leg220 may have any structure suitable for at least an interconnectingfeature 220 as described above. At least a support leg 220 may becomposed of any material or combination of materials suitable for thecomposition of at least an interconnecting feature 220. In anembodiment, at least a support leg 220 aids in locating additivelymanufactured body of material 200 as described in further detail below;for instance, the at least a support leg 220 may be used to connectadditively manufactured body of material 200 to a temporary supportframe as set forth in further detail below. At least a support leg 220may enable placement of a reference feature of at least a referencefeature 212 where otherwise no other element of additively manufacturedbody of material 200 would be present to support the reference feature;for instance, at least a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objectsand at least an interconnecting feature 220 may not be present at alocation where a reference feature of at least a reference feature 212is placed, for example to match a locating feature as described infurther detail below. At least a support leg 220 may be additivelymanufactured. Where reference feature is manufactured as a function ofat least a locating feature as described in further detail below, atleast a support leg 220 may also be manufactured as a function of atleast a locating feature.

Additively manufactured body of material 200 includes at least areference feature 212. At least a reference feature 212 may beconstructed of any material or combination of materials suitable for theconstruction of at least a precursor 204 to plurality of discreteobjects. At least a reference feature 212 may be a feature designed,configured, and located for precisely locating additively manufacturedbody of material 200 relative to a manufacturing device. At least areference feature may have any form conducive to locating additivelymanufactured body of material at manufacturing device as set forth infurther detail below.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an exemplary embodiment of a manufacturingdevice 400 that may be used in some embodiments to perform one or moremanufacturing or computer modeling steps in embodiments of methods isillustrated. Manufacturing device 400 may include at least amanufacturing tool 404; in an embodiment, manufacturing tool 404 may bea component ofmanufacturing device 400 that performs one or moresubtractive manufacturing steps as described above. Manufacturing tool204 may perform one or more subtractive manufacturing steps as describedabove. Manufacturing tool 404 may include a cutting tool. Cutting toolmay be a component that removes material from a workpiece. In someembodiments, cutting tool includes at least an endmill, which may be acomponent that removes material when rotated against a workpiece.Persons skilled in the art will be aware of many variants of endmillthat may be used to remove material from a workpiece. Cutting tool mayinclude a component that transfers motion from a motor (not shown) to atleast an endmill; as a non-limiting example, component may be a spindlethat rotates and as a result causes endmill to rotate. Manufacturingtool 404 may include a tool changer that can switch a plurality ofendmills onto and off of manufacturing tool 404; for instance, toolchanger may detach an endmill currently attached to a spindle and attacha different endmill to the same spindle, enabling the automatedmanufacturing device to use more than one endmill in a single automatedmanufacturing process. Manufacturing tool 404 may include a tool changerthat can switch a plurality of endmills onto and off of manufacturingtool 404. Manufacturing tool 404 may include a component used to performEDM, such as a wire for wire EDM or an electrode. Manufacturing tool 404may include one or more lasers. Manufacturing tool 404 may include oneor more abraders.

Alternatively or additionally, manufacturing tool 404 may include atleast an additive manufacturing tool capable of performing one or moreadditive manufacturing steps as described above. Manufacturing tool 404may, as a non-limiting example, include one or more additive printerheads such as those used in rapid prototyping and/or “3D printing”processes, or the like. Manufacturing tool 404 may include an extrudingdevice for extruding fluid or paste material, a sprayer or otherapplicator for bonding material, an applicator for powering, a sinteringdevice such as a laser, or other such material. Furthermore, discreteobject may be formed from precursor to a discrete object 204 by additivemanufacturing.

Still referring to FIG. 4, manufacturing device 400 may include asupport 408. In an embodiment, a support 408 may be a structure thatsupports a workpiece during the one or more manufacturing steps. Support408 may include a base table 412. Base table 412 may include a surfaceto which a workpiece or other components may be secured. Surface may beoriented horizontally, vertically, or in any other orientation. Surfacemay be substantially planar. Base table 412 may include variousmechanisms to attach components or workpieces to base table 412; forinstance, base table 412 may include a quick release attachmentmechanism that can be used to attach any component having appropriateattachment features such as quick-release studs. Support 408 may includea fixture, which as used herein is a component used in a manufacturingdevice to secure a workpiece to the manufacturing device during the oneor more manufacturing steps. A fixture may include, without limitation,one or more clamps, fasteners, vices, bolts, studs, quick-releaseattachment devices, straps, and chucks. A fixture may be one element ofa set of fixtures; for instance, a workpiece may be secured inmanufacturing device 400 by a plurality of fixtures, such as a pluralityof bolts. Support 408 may include a vise, clamp, or other component usedto locate or immobilize a workpiece within or at manufacturing device400. Support 408 may include a temporary support frame as described infurther detail below.

Still referring to FIG. 4, support 408 may include a substrate fordeposition of layers in additive processes. Substrate may be constructedof any material suitable for an additive process to be performed on topof substrate. For instance, and without limitation, substrate mayinclude a metal or other heat-resistant base plate supporting additivelyadded layers in metal additive processes such as DMLS or other lasersintering. Substrate may include a tray structure, e.g. for keepingpowder layers used in powder fusion processes from blowing away orspilling during deposition. Substrate may include a fluid bath or otherstructure for bathing or coating a workpiece with successive layers, asin stereolithography or the like.

With continued reference to FIG. 4, manufacturing device 400 may includeat least a locating feature 416. In an embodiment, at least a locatingfeature 416 may be at least a feature of manufacturing device 400 thatenables a workpiece to be located at manufacturing device 400; in someembodiments, the at least a locating feature 416 enables a workpiece tobe located precisely with regard to a coordinate system used to directthe one or more steps. At least a locating feature 416 may include,without limitation, one or more vices, clamps, projections, slots,recesses, or walls; for instance, the at least a locating feature 416may include a surface of a vise jaw that is immobile with respect toanother component such as a support 408 or base table 412, enablingprecise prediction of surface's location, and thus of a workpiecesurface set against it. At least a locating feature 416 may include alocating feature 416 on support 408; for example, the at least alocating feature 416 may include a bolt-hole, stud-hole, groove, orother recess in a rotary table, base table 412, trunnion table, orfixture. As a non-limiting example, at least a locating feature 416 mayinclude one or more grooves in a vice. At least a locating feature 416may include a projection on a rotary table, base table 412, trunniontable, or fixture. At least a locating feature 416 may include acombination of recesses and projections. The at least a locating feature416 may include a plurality of locating features, or a single locatingfeature.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 4, in an embodiment, manufacturing device400 may be a mechanical manufacturing device. In an embodiment,mechanical manufacturing device may be a manufacturing device 400 thatdeprives the user of some direct control over the toolpath, defined asmovements the manufacturing tool 404 and workpiece make relative to oneanother during the one or more manufacturing steps. For instance,manufacturing tool 404 may be constrained to move vertically, by alinear slide 420 or similar device, so that the only decision the usermay make is to raise or lower the manufacturing tool 404; as anon-limiting example, where manufacturing device 400 is a manuallyoperated machine tool, user may only be able to raise and lower acutting tool, and have no ability to move the cutting tool horizontally.Similarly, where manufacturing tool 404 includes a slide lathe, a bladeon the slide lathe may be constrained to follow a particular path. As afurther example, base table 412 may be moveable along one or more linearaxes; for instance, base table 412 may be constrained to move along asingle horizontal axis. In other embodiments, base table 412 isconstrained to movement along two horizontal axes that span twodimensions, permitting freedom of movement only in a horizontal plane;for instance, base table 412 may be mounted on two mutually orthogonallinear slides.

With continued reference to FIG. 4, manufacturing device 400 may includea powered manufacturing device. In an embodiment, a poweredmanufacturing device may be a manufacturing device in which at least onecomponent of the manufacturing device includes at least a componentpowered by something other than human power. At least a component may bepowered by any non-human source, including without limitation electricpower generated or stored by any means, heat engines including steam,internal combustion, or diesel engines, wind power, water power,pneumatic power, or hydraulic power. Powered components may include anycomponents of manufacturing device 400. Manufacturing tool 404 may bepowered; for instance, manufacturing tool 404 may include an endmillmounted on a spindle rotated by a motor (not shown). Workpiece support408 may be powered. Where manufacturing device 400 is a mechanicaldevice, motion of components along linear or rotary constraints may bepowered; for instance, motion of base table 412 along one or more linearconstraints such as linear slides may be driven by a motor or othersource of power. Similarly, rotation of rotary table may be driven by apower source. Tool-changer, where present, may be driven by power. Insome embodiments, all or substantially all of the components ofmanufacturing device 400 are powered by something other than humanpower; for instance, all components may be powered by electrical power.

Still referring to FIG. 4, manufacturing device 400 may include anautomated manufacturing device. In some embodiments, an automatedmanufacturing system is a manufacturing device including a controller424 that controls one or more manufacturing steps automatically.Controller 424 may include a sequential control device that produces asequence of commands without feedback from other components ofmanufacturing device. Controller 424 may include a feedback controldevice that produces commands triggered or modified by feedback fromother components. Controller 424 may perform both sequential andfeedback control. In some embodiments, controller 424 includes amechanical device. In other embodiments, controller 424 includes anelectronic device. Electronic device may include digital or analogelectronic components, including without limitation one or more logiccircuits, such one or more logic gates, programmable elements such asfield-programmable arrays, multiplexors, one or more operationalamplifiers, one or more diodes, one or more transistors, one or morecomparators, and one or more integrators. Electronic device may includea processor. Electronic device may include a computing device. Computingdevice may include any computing device as described below in referenceto FIG. 20.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 4, controller 424 may include a componentembedded in manufacturing device 400; as a non-limiting example, thecontroller 424 may include a microcontroller, which may be housed in aunit that combines the other components of manufacturing device 400.Further continuing the example, microcontroller 424 may have programmemory, which may enable microcontroller 424 to load a program thatdirects manufacturing device 400 to perform an automated manufacturingprocess. Similarly, controller 424 may include any other components of acomputing device as described below in reference to FIG. 20 in a devicehoused within manufacturing device 400. In other embodiments, controller424 includes a computing device that is separate from the rest of thecomponents of manufacturing device 400; for instance, the controller 424may include a personal computer, laptop, or workstation connected to theremainder of manufacturing device 400 by a wired or wireless dataconnection. In some embodiments, controller 424 includes both a personalcomputing device where a user may enter instructions to generate aprogram for turning workpiece into a finished product, and an embeddeddevice that receives the program from the personal computing device andexecutes the program. A person of ordinary skill in the art will readilyappreciate, after reading the instant application in its entirety, thevarious ways that a controller 424, which may include one or morecomputing devices, may be connected to or incorporated in amanufacturing device 400 as described above.

With continued reference to FIG. 4, controller 424 may controlcomponents of manufacturing device 400; for instance, controller 424 maycontrol elements including without limitation tool changer to switchendmills, spindle or gear systems operatively coupled to spindle toregulate spindle rotational speed, linear movement of manufacturing tool404, base table 412, or both, and rotation or rotational position ofrotary table. As an example, in embodiments involving subtractivemanufacturing, the equipment used for removing material may be of thecomputerized numerical control (CNC) type that is automated and operatesby precisely programmed commands that control movement of one or moreparts of the equipment to effect the material removal. CNC machines,their operation, programming, and relation to computer aidedmanufacturing (CAM) tools and computer aided design (CAD) tools are wellknown and need not be described in detail herein for those skilled inthe art to understand the scope of the present invention and how topractice it in any of its widely varying forms. Persons skilled in theart, upon reading the entirety of this disclosure, will be aware ofsimilar automated control systems usable for various forms of additivemanufacturing.

Still referring to FIG. 4, controller may be configured to perform anymanufacturing modeling and/or other method step as disclosed herein,including without limitation as described herein in reference to FIGS.1, 13, 18, and/or 19. In an embodiment, controller 424 is configured toreceive a graphical representation of precursor to a discrete object,receive a graphical representation of at least a reference feature onthe precursor to the discrete object, and generate a computer model ofthe body of material, wherein the computer model of the body of materialincludes the graphical representation of the precursor to the discreteobject and the graphical representation of the at least a referencefeature.

Although the method has been described for exemplary purposes regardinga manufacturing device 400, embodiments of the method making use of anadditive manufacturing device are also contemplated within the scope ofthis disclosure. For instance, a manufacturing tool 404 may be anydevice that modifies a workpiece to produce a product. A manufacturingtool 404 may include an applicator or other additive device. As anexample, manufacturing tool 404 may include a printer head for a 3Dprinter. Manufacturing tool 404 may include an extruding device forextruding fluid or paste material, a sprayer or other applicator forbonding material, an applicator for powering, a sintering device such asa laser, or other such material. Furthermore, discrete object may beformed from precursor to a discrete object 404 by additivemanufacturing.

Referring again to FIG. 2, at least a reference feature 212 may belocated on at least one of at least a precursor 204 to plurality ofdiscrete objects. At least a reference feature 212 may be located on atleast an extension 208. For instance, as shown for example in FIG. 2, atleast a reference feature 212 may be located on at least a support leg220. At least a reference feature 212 may be located on a distal end ofat least a support leg 220, as shown for instance in FIG. 2, or on anyother part of support leg. At least a reference feature 212 may belocated on an interconnecting feature 220, as shown for example in FIG.5. At least a reference feature 212 may be located on any combination ofat least a precursor 204 to plurality of discrete objects,interconnecting features 220, or support legs; for instance, a singlereference feature of at least a reference feature 212 may be locatedpartially on a precursor and partially on an extension. A firstreference feature of at least a reference feature 212 may be located ona precursor while a second reference feature of the at least a referencefeature 212 may be located on an extension; persons of skill in the art,upon reading the entirety of this disclosure, will be aware of thevarious possible locations on additively manufactured body of material200 where at least a reference feature 212 may be located. In anembodiment, at least a reference feature 212 may be placed on additivelymanufactured body of material 200 as needed to locate the additivelymanufactured body of material 200; for instance, the at least areference feature 212 may be located on the additively manufactured bodyof material 200 to match at least a locating feature as set forth infurther detail below. At least a reference feature 212 may have beenadded to precursor to discrete object through additive manufacturing,for instance as described below for additively manufacturing at least areference feature 212 on precursor to discrete object. For instance, andwithout limitation, at least a reference feature 212 may have been addedto precursor to discrete object by generating a computer model of the atleast a reference feature 212 and additively manufacturing the at leasta reference feature 212 as a function of the computer model; this may beimplemented for example as described in further detail below.

At least a reference feature 212 may locate additively manufactured bodyof material 200 relative to manufacturing device 400 by fitting the atleast a reference feature 212 to at least a locating feature 416 of themanufacturing device 400. For instance, at least a reference feature 212may include one or more projections that fit into one or more recessesin a support 408 at manufacturing device 400; as a non-limiting example,where at least a locating feature 416 includes a plurality of holes,such as bolt-holes or stud-holes, the at least a reference feature 212may include a plurality of projections that fit into the plurality ofholes. Where at least a locating feature 416 includes at least aprojection, at least a reference feature 212 may include at least arecess (not shown) into which at least a projection may be housed. Insome embodiments, at least a reference feature 212 includes anattachment feature, such as one or more holes to admit bolts or studs,or one or more projections or recesses that fit a locating feature 416of manufacturing device 400. At least a reference feature 212 mayinclude one or more recesses, which may fit over one or more projectionsat manufacturing device 400.

In an embodiment, as illustrated for example in FIG. 6, at least areference feature 212 may include a first reference feature 600 thatextends further from a first surface 604 of a bottom of additivelymanufactured body of material 200 that is further from an element 608 ofmanufacturing device 400, which may be a support 408 or a locatingfeature 416, when additively manufactured body of material 200 is in anorientation used to perform some manufacturing steps of step 125, and asecond reference feature 612 that extends less far from a second surface616 that is closer to the element 608 when the additively manufacturedbody of material 200 is in the orientation used to perform themanufacturing steps. Thus, for instance, where element 608 of secondarymanufacturing device has a shape not formed to complement the shape ofadditively manufactured body of material 200, at least a referencefeature 212 may include first 604 and second 612 reference feature thatorient additively manufactured body of material 200 to a discrete objectin an expected orientation for one or more manufacturing steps; this mayenable the use of a standard-shaped fixture or other support 408 withvarious differently shaped bodies of material.

Support 408 may be constructed to fit the shape of a particularadditively manufactured body of material 200. For instance, whereadditively manufactured body of material 200 is oriented with a bottomside oriented to rest on a support 408 so that an opposite surface maybe subjected to subtractive manufacturing, the bottom side may havesurfaces at distinct heights with regard to support 408; in other words,a first surface may be at a distinct height from a second surface. In anembodiment, an element of manufacturing device 400, which may be asupport 408, may have corresponding surfaces that support surfaces ofbottom. Corresponding surfaces may include locating features, which maybe any locating features 416 as described above, to which first featureand second feature may be fitted to locate additively manufactured bodyof material 200. Surfaces at different heights with respect to support408 may have reference features of at least a reference feature 212 thatorient the surfaces with respect to corresponding surfaces on support408, for instance using locating features. Support 408 may beconfigured, manufactured, or adjusted to complement a shape ofadditively manufactured body of material 200.

Referring now to FIG. 7A, additively manufactured body of material 200may include a first side 700 that faces a support, which may be anysupport 408, when additively manufactured body of material 200 is in afirst orientation, and a second side 704 that faces support 408 whenadditively manufactured body of material 200 is in a second orientation.At least a reference feature 212 may include at least a first-sidereference feature 708 on first side 700 and at least a second-sidereference feature 712 on second side 704. In an embodiment, and as shownfor example in FIG. 7A, at least a first-side reference feature 708 maylocate additively manufactured body of material 200 within manufacturingdevice 400, for instance by locating the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 at support 408, when the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 is in first orientation; as shown in FIG. 7B, at least asecond-side reference feature 712 may locate additively manufacturedbody of material 200 within manufacturing device 400, for instance bylocating the additively manufactured body of material 200 at support408, when the additively manufactured body of material 200 is in secondorientation. In an embodiment, the at least a first-side referencefeature 708 and the at least a second-side reference feature 712 enableadditively manufactured body of material 200 to be located at the samefixture, support 408, or other element of manufacturing device 400 indifferent orientations. Additional sets of reference features onadditional sides of additively manufactured body of material 200 mayenable location of additively manufactured body of material 200 inadditional orientations.

Referring again to FIG. 1, at optional step 110, at least a referencefeature 212 on an additively manufactured body of material 200 isadditively manufactured. For instance as illustrated for in FIGS. 3A-Babove, additively manufactured body of material 200 may be receivedwithout at least one of the at least a reference feature 212. At least areference feature 212 may be additively manufactured any part ofadditively manufactured body of material 200.

In an embodiment, at least a reference feature 212 may be manufacturedas a function of at least a locating feature 416 at or withinmanufacturing device 400; at least a reference feature 212 may beadditively manufactured to fit to at least a locating feature 416 byreceiving additive manufacturing control commands directing the additivemanufacture of the at least a reference feature 212. For instance, whereat least a locating feature 416 includes a recess, at least a referencefeature 212 may be additively manufactured having at least a projectionthat fits into the recess. As another example, where locating feature416 includes a projection, at least a reference feature 212 may beadditively manufactured having at least a recess that fits over theprojection. Additive manufacturing control commands may be generatedusing one or more data describing locating feature 416; one or more datamay include dimension, size, or shape data concerning locating feature416. Additive manufacturing control commands may be generated using acomputer model or graphical representation of a locating feature 416 atmanufacturing device 400; additive manufacturing may be performed as afunction of computer model of the locating feature 416. Additivemanufacturing control commands may be generated using a computer modelor graphical representation of at least a reference feature 212;additive manufacturing may be performed as a function of computer modelof the at least a reference feature 212. Computer model of at least areference feature 212 may be combined with or created by reference to acomputer model of precursor to discrete object, for example as describedin further detail below in reference to FIG. 13.

Still referring to FIG. 1, at least an extension 208 may also beadditively manufactured as a function of at least a locating feature416. For instance, where orientation of additively manufactured body toperform additive manufacturing process of step 125 would suggestplacement of a reference feature of at least a reference feature 212 ina location that is not on at least a precursor 204 to plurality ofdiscrete objects, for instance because one locating feature of at leasta locating feature 416 is opposite a gap between or a space beyond theat least a precursor 204 to the plurality of discrete objects, anextension of the at least an extension 208 may be constructed to providesupport for the reference feature, and to connect the reference featureto the rest of the additively manufactured body of material 200.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an exemplary embodiment in which a temporarysupport frame 800 is used is illustrated. Temporary support frame 800may be constructed out of any suitable material or combination ofmaterials, including without limitation metal (solid, sintered, etc.),wood, cardboard, polymer (solid, foamed, etc.), composite, andmultilayer material, among others. Fundamentally, there is no limitationon the composition of temporary support frame 800. Temporary supportframe 800 may be constructed from a combination of various elements; forinstance, the temporary support frame 800 may include a combination ofbrass, plastic, and aluminum parts. In an embodiment, temporary supportframe 800 is constructed from the same material as additivelymanufactured body of material 200. Temporary support frame 800 may beadditively manufactured.

Still viewing FIG. 8, temporary support frame 800 may include at leastan opening 804. At least an opening 804 may include a single opening ora plurality of openings, as described in further detail below. At leastan opening 804 may include a through-opening; In an embodiment, athrough-opening is open on two sides of temporary support frame 800, sothat an object placed into the through-opening falls out of thetemporary support frame 800 unless supported by additional objects orfeatures, for instance as described in further detail below. In anembodiment, at least an opening 804 includes a blind opening, or anopening having a floor; additively manufactured body of material 200 maybe placed upon floor, upon supports placed on floor or above floor andsupported by other features of temporary support frame 800 or structuresattached to the additively manufactured body of material 200 that thenlocate additively manufactured body of material 200 within the at leastan opening 804, e.g. a rod or rods glued to the additively manufacturedbody of material 200 that then rest on the temporary support frame 800,supporting the additively manufactured body of material 200 within theat least an opening 804. A floor of a blind opening may be integral totemporary support frame 800, or may be one of a plurality of sectionsassembled to form the temporary support frame 800 as described infurther detail below. At least an opening 804 may have anycross-sectional form, including a substantially rectangular form, anyregular or irregular polygonal form, a substantially circular orelliptical form, any regular or irregular curved form, or any formcombining polygonal and curved elements. The shape and size of at leastan opening 804 may be standardized; a standard shape and size of openingmay be recorded in a computing device controlling the manufacturingdevice 400, or may be used to assume a location of points within the atleast an opening 804 for the purposes of generating machine controlinstructions. For example, where temporary support frame 800 has a framereference feature as described below, the shape and size of the at leastan opening 804 may be used to locate the at least an opening 804 withina coordinate system used in the machine control instructions when thetemporary support frame 800 has been located using the frame referencefeature.

In an embodiment, and continuing to view FIG. 8, at least an opening 804is shaped to fit an additively manufactured body of material 200; forinstance, at least an opening 804 may have one or more geometriccharacteristics of the additively manufactured body of material 200. Asa non-limiting example, where additively manufactured body of material200 has a peripheral form, at least an opening 804 may include anopening having a substantially similar peripheral form, albeit larger toadmit the additively manufactured body of material 200. Continuing withthe above example, the periphery of at least an opening 804 may bemodified by frame reference features or frame locating features. Atleast an opening 804 may have any depth suitable for use with methodsdescribed in this disclosure.

Continuing to view FIG. 8, temporary support frame 800 may include atleast a frame reference feature 808 designed, configured, and locatedfor precisely locating the temporary support frame 800 relative to amanufacturing device 400. At least a frame reference feature 808 mayinclude the size and shape or the outer periphery of temporary supportframe 800; for instance, the outer periphery of temporary support frame800 may have a predictable or standardized size and shape such thatpoints in the frame are at predictable locations, relative to acoordinate system used to generate or implement machine controlinstructions, when temporary support frame 800 is secured in or againsta feature of manufacturing device. In an embodiment, at least a framereference feature 808 includes an attachment feature, such as one ormore holes to admit bolts or studs, or one or more projections orrecesses that fit a feature of manufacturing device; feature ofmanufacturing device 400 may include the surface of a base table, rotarytable, a fixture, or the like.

In an embodiment, and still viewing FIG. 8, temporary support frame 800is additively manufactured; for instance, the temporary support frame800 may initially have a gap which is filled using additivemanufacturing; likewise, a plurality of sections making up the temporarysupport frame 800 may be joined using additive manufacturing processes.Temporary support frame 800 may be additively manufactured using anyprocess or combination of processes used to additively manufactureadditively manufactured body of material 200 as described above. Anyfeature of temporary support frame 800 may be formed using additivemanufacturing, including at least a frame reference feature 808 and atleast an opening 804. In an embodiment, receiving temporary supportframe 800 further includes subtractively manufacturing the temporarysupport frame 800. Temporary support frame 800 may be subtractivelymanufactured by removal of material from a blank by machining processes.Any feature of temporary support frame 800 may be formed usingsubtractive manufacturing including at least an opening. In anembodiment, temporary support frame 800 is manufactured using acombination of additive and subtractive manufacturing steps. In anembodiment, a prefabricated temporary support frame 800 is received, andone or more features are added using additive or subtractivemanufacturing. Receiving temporary support frame 800 may also beaccomplished by receiving a prefabricated frame, or by reusing a framethat has been used in a previous manufacturing method, including withoutlimitation any method described in this disclosure. In an embodiment,temporary support frame 800 may be integral to additively manufacturedbody of material 200, e.g. additively manufactured at the same time asthe body of material containing the final discrete object and connectedto the additively manufactured body of material 200 so that there is anadditively manufactured body of material 200 containing both the frameand pre-subtractively manufactured plurality of discrete objects amongstother geometry.

With continued reference to FIG. 8, in an embodiment, method 100 furtherincludes assembling temporary support frame 800 from a plurality ofsections. As a non-limiting example, there may be two or more sectionsof temporary support frame 800 that, when assembled, define at least anopening 804; for instance, at least an opening 804 may have an interiorsurface, a first fractional portion of which is a surface of a firstsection, and a second fractional portion of which is a surface of asecond section, the first section and second section able to be joinedto form the complete interior surface. A plurality of sections mayinclude a base section that, when added to frame, converts at least anopening 804 from a through-opening to a blind opening. In an embodiment,a plurality of sections includes two or more lateral sections thatdefine a periphery of at least an opening 804; in an embodiment, aportion of temporary support frame 800 defining the periphery of atleast an opening is fused or monolithic, and assembling the temporarysupport frame 800 includes adding the base element. An assembledtemporary support frame 800 may be fastened together, taped together, orclamped or vised together, for instance using feature of themanufacturing device used to secure the stabilized workpiece. In anembodiment, the one or more sections may be assembled in a manner thatadjusts the size or shape of the at least an opening; as a non-limitingexample, temporary support frame 800 may include a container with anopen top, such as a five-sided rectangular box, and one or more elongatemembers such as rods, that rest on the top. Sliding one or more rods indifferent directions may divide the open top into differently sizedand/or shaped openings. As a non-limiting example, one or more elongatemembers may be four elongate members that are free to slide along opentop, creating vertices of a quadrilateral form at their intersections;the quadrilateral form may be a parallelogram, rectangle, trapezoid,square, or the like. As a non-limiting example continued from above,sides may be made of a self-sealing material or material that can besealed and elongate members may protrude through the sides at one ormultiple different heights. A user may slide elongate members to choosea desired shape and size for quadrilateral form to match thequadrilateral form to the size and shape of the additively manufacturedbody of material 200. In an embodiment, container has an open bottom aswell; for instance, the container may be a sidewall like the sidewall ofa box, forming a loop of sidewall the top of which is the open top.Sidewall may be formed by joining one end of a strip of material toanother end.

Continuing to view FIG. 8, temporary support frame 800 may include atleast a locating frame feature 812. At least a locating frame feature812 may be constructed and used in any manner for the construction oruse of at least a locating feature 416 of manufacturing device 400;temporary support frame 800 may function as a support 408 as describedabove. In some embodiments, at least a locating frame feature 812 isplaced at regular intervals around temporary support frame 800; forinstance, the at least a locating frame feature 812 may be placed atcorners and at some side midpoints of the temporary support frame 800.

Still viewing FIG. 8, additively manufactured body of material 200 maybe placed in the at least an opening 804. Where additively manufacturedbody of material 200 is placed in a blind opening, the additivelymanufactured body of material 200 may be set on a floor of the blindopening; where the additively manufactured body of material 200 isplaced in a through opening, additively manufactured body of material200 may rest on a surface on which temporary support frame 800 rests. Inan embodiment, placing further includes locating additively manufacturedbody of material 200 in a precise position relative to temporary supportframe 800. Locating additively manufactured body of material 200 may beperformed using physical measurements from a precisely located featureof temporary support frame 800; for instance, where temporary supportframe 800 includes at least a frame reference feature 808 as describedabove, additively manufactured body of material 200 may be located in atleast an opening by measuring from at least a frame reference feature808 to a feature of additively manufactured body of material 200, whichmay be at least a reference feature 212. As a non-limiting example,where at least an opening 804 includes a substantially rectangularopening having a standard form and body of material is a substantiallyregular shape having a standard form, sides of additively manufacturedbody of material 200 may be placed particular distances from sides ofthe substantially rectangular opening. Physical placement may be guidedby any suitable measurement technique, including without limitationgraduated rulers, calipers, scanning devices, or linear displacementsensors. Similarly, where temporary support frame 800 and additivelymanufactured body of material 200 are placed on a tray as set forth infurther detail below, tray may have indicia or surface features thatguide the precise placement of the temporary support frame 800 andadditively manufactured body of material 200, which may include supportfeatures as described in further detail below. Where receivingadditively manufactured body of material 200 includes additivelymanufacturing additively manufactured body of material 200, additivelymanufactured body of material 200 may be manufactured in a preciselocation within at least an opening 804; temporary support frame 800 andadditively manufactured body may be additively manufactured togetherusing the same coordinate system, for instance where the temporarysupport frame 800 is part of the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200, or where a part of the temporary support frame 800 is apart of the additively manufactured body of material 200. Alternatively,temporary support frame 800 may be located, using one or more referencefeatures of the temporary support frame 800, within a coordinate systemused to manufacture additively manufactured body of material 200, withthe result that the additively manufactured body of material 200 is at aprecise location within at least an opening 804. In an embodiment,machine control instructions used to manufacture discrete object may begenerated using known location of precisely located additivelymanufactured body of material 200, for instance by locating additivelymanufactured body of material 200 within frame, and locating temporarysupport frame 800 within secondary manufacturing device coordinatesystem using at least a reference feature 212. Locating may also beperformed by connecting reference features to at least a locating framefeature 812, for example as described in further detail below.

In an embodiment, additively manufactured body of material 200 is notlocated precisely within at least an opening 804. Manufacturing devicemay be set up to have an origin of a coordinate system at a particularfeature of additively manufactured body of material 200; setup may beperformed by a user or robot, for instance by advancing a mill ofmanufacturing device and moving mill relative to additively manufacturedbody of material 200 until mill contacts a chosen feature of additivelymanufactured body of material 200 to establish an origin point. Furthermeasurements or calibration may be used to orient additivelymanufactured body of material 200 relative to coordinate axes. Inaddition a 2D or 3D scanner could be used to precisely locate additivelymanufactured body of material 200 in relation to the frame. Asnon-limiting example, a scanner may be attached to the manufacturingdevice which digitally scans frame and additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 and uses the resulting point cloud to generate a unifiedadditively manufactured body of material 200 from which machineinstructions may be generated or to which previously generated machineinstructions may be mapped. Persons skilled in the art will be aware ofmany techniques for precisely locating a workpiece within amanufacturing device, for instance to permit the manufacturing device tofollow automated toolpaths in performing manufacturing steps on theworkpiece.

Continuing to view FIG. 8, additively manufactured body of material 200may include at least a portion of temporary support frame 800. Forinstance, in an embodiment, entire temporary support frame 800 isincluded in additively manufactured body of material 200. In anembodiment, only part of temporary support frame 800 is included; forinstance, where the temporary support frame 800 is rectangular, one sideof the temporary support frame 800 may be included in additivelymanufactured body of material 200, while three remaining sides are not.At least a portion of temporary support frame 800 may fill a gap in theremainder of frame as provided. At least a portion of temporary supportframe 800 may fit into a slot or recess in temporary support frame 800.At least a portion of temporary support frame 800 may fit over aprojection of the rest of the temporary support frame 800. At least aportion of temporary support frame 800 may be manufactured in the sameadditive manufacturing process as additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200. In some embodiments, at least a portion of temporarysupport frame 800 is a reference feature as disclosed above; at least aportion may be used to locate the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 at or within the temporary support frame 800 or withinmanufacturing device 400.

Still viewing FIG. 8, temporary support frame 800 may be otherwiseconnected to additively manufactured body of material 200 using at leasta support leg 220. At least a support leg 220 may extend from additivelymanufactured body of material 200 to at least a locating frame feature812. At least a support leg 220 may include at least a support leg 220extending to each locating frame feature 812 when additivelymanufactured body of material 200 is located within at least an opening804. Two or more support legs of at least a support leg 220 may extendto a locating frame feature 812 of at least a locating frame feature812. In some embodiments, two or more legs extend from two differentlocations on additively manufactured body of material 200 to two asingle locating frame feature 812, for instance from two differentprecursors of plurality of precursors of plurality of discrete objects;this may create one or more triangular structures made up of supportlegs. One or more cross-braces 816 may connect two or more support legs;the one or more cross-braces may increase the stability of additivelymanufactured body of material 200.

At least a reference feature 212 may include one or more referencefeatures that mate with at least a locating frame feature 812; in otherwords, at least a reference feature 212 may be used to locate additivelymanufactured body of material 200 at manufacturing device 400 bylocating additively manufactured body of material 200 at temporarysupport frame 800, either before or after temporary support frame 800 islocated at manufacturing device 400. In some embodiments, at least areference feature 212 is additively manufactured as a function of atleast a locating frame feature 812; this may be accomplished using anyprocess for manufacturing at least a reference feature 212 as a functionof locating feature 416 as described above. As a non-limiting example,additively manufactured body of material 200 may have at least a supportleg 220 and at least a reference feature 212 additively manufactured tobe located by mating to or locating at or in one or more locating framefeatures 812, as illustrated for example in FIGS. 9A-B. As shown inFIGS. 9A-B, at least a reference feature 212 may have a rectangular orcylindrical profile, or a triangular or pyramidal profile, to fit withina locating frame feature of the at least a locating frame feature 812;this is illustrated for exemplary purposes only, and persons skilled inthe art, upon reading the entirety of this disclosure, will be aware ofmany alternative ways that at least a reference feature 212 may beadditively manufactured as a function of at least a locating framefeature 812 or mated with at least a locating frame feature 812.

Still referring to FIGS. 9A-B, at least a reference feature 212 may beused with temporary support frame 800 in any way described above. Forexample, and without limitation, at least a reference feature 212 usedwith temporary support frame 800 may include at least a referencefeature 212 may include at least a first-side reference feature 708 onfirst side 700 and at least a second-side reference feature 712 onsecond side 704, as described above in reference to FIGS. 7A-B. In anembodiment, additively manufactured body of material 200 may be engagedwith temporary support frame 800 using at least a first-side referencefeature 708 for a first set of machining steps of step 125, and thenflipped over or otherwise moved into a different orientation relative totemporary support frame 800 using at least a second-side referencefeature 708. This may be performed either within manufacturing device400 or outside manufacturing device 400. In each position, additivelymanufactured body of material 200 may be clamped or otherwise secured totemporary support frame 800 in each position.

Referring again to FIG. 1, at step 120, the additively manufactured bodyof material 200 is located within a manufacturing device using the atleast a reference feature 212. As used herein, location of additivelymanufactured body of material 200 “within” manufacturing device 400 isintended to encompass location of additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 “at,” “in,” or “on” manufacturing device 400; for instance,where the manufacturing device 400 does not have an interior withinwhich additively manufactured body of material 200 may be located, theadditively manufactured body of material 200 may be located on or atmanufacturing device 400, for instance by securing the additivelymanufactured body of material 200 to a support 408 or engaging theadditively manufactured body of material 200 to a locating feature 416.Locating may include locating additively manufactured body of material200 at a support 408, which may be a fixture, a temporary support frame,or any other example described above as a possible form for a support408. Support 408 may not be located within manufacturing device 400 whenadditively manufactured body of material 200 is mounted to the support408. In some embodiments, locating includes mounting additivelymanufactured body of material 200 to support 408 and then locating thesupport 408 within manufacturing device 400. As a non-limiting example,where support 408 is a fixture, additively manufactured body of material200 may be secured to fixture prior to securing fixture withinmanufacturing device 400. Where support 408 is a temporary support frame800, additively manufactured body of material 200 may be secured to thetemporary support frame 800 prior to securing fixture withinmanufacturing device 400. Additively manufactured body may be mounted atsupport 408 using at least a reference feature 212; mounting to support408 may include locating additively manufactured body of material 200 atsupport with precision, after which the support 408 may be locatedwithin manufacturing device 400 with precision, so that the additivelymanufactured body of material 200 is located at the manufacturing device400 precisely.

Still referring to FIG. 1, location of additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 within manufacturing device 400 is accomplished using atleast a reference feature 212. At least a reference feature 212 may befitted to or mated with one or more locating features 416 atmanufacturing device 400. For example, where one or more locatingfeatures 416 includes at least a recess and at least a reference feature212 includes at least a projection, at least a projection may beinserted into at least a recess. As another example, where one or morelocating features 416 includes at least a projection and at least areference feature 212 includes at least a recess, at least a recess maybe inserted onto at least a projection. Where at least a referencefeature 212 is formed to be located using a fixture, clamp, vise, orother element of manufacturing device 400, location may involveinsertion into or mating with fixture, clamp, vise, or other element ofmanufacturing device 400. Location may include location with precision,such as location at precise point and orientation with respect to acoordinate system used by manufacturing device 400 or machine controlinstructions directing manufacturing device 400

In some embodiments, additively manufactured body of material 200 islocated within manufacturing device 400 using reference features on anopposite side of additively manufactured body of material 200 from theside currently subjected to machining. As a non-limiting exampleprovided solely for the purposes of illustration, at least a referencefeature 212 shown on additively manufactured body of material 200 asillustrated in FIG. 2 may not be used to located additively manufacturedbody of material 200 for the purposes of machining the side ofadditively manufactured body of material 200 that is visible in FIG. 2;as non-limiting illustration, FIG. 10 shows an exemplary embodiment ofthe additively manufactured body of material 200 illustrated forexemplary purposes in FIG. 2, as seen from the other side, and showingadditional reference features of at least a reference feature 212 thatmay, in an embodiment, be used to locate the additively manufacturedbody of material 200 so as to machine the side shown in FIG. 2.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in an embodiment, location may not be preciselocation. Manufacturing device 400 may be set up to have an origin of acoordinate system at a particular feature of additively manufacturedbody of material 200; setup may be performed by a user or robot, forinstance by advancing a mill of manufacturing device 400 and moving millrelative to additively manufactured body of material 200 until millcontacts a chosen feature of additively manufactured body of material200 to establish an origin point. Further measurements or calibrationmay be used to orient additively manufactured body of material 200relative to coordinate axes. In addition a 2D or 3D scanner may be usedto precisely locate additively manufactured body of material 200 300 inrelation to manufacturing device 400 As non-limiting example, a scannermay be attached to the manufacturing device 400 which digitallyadditively manufactured body of material 200 and uses the resultingpoint cloud to generate an additively manufactured body of material 200from which machine instructions may be generated or to which previouslygenerated machine instructions may be mapped. Persons skilled in the artwill be aware of many techniques for precisely locating a workpiecewithin a manufacturing device, for instance to permit the manufacturingdevice to follow automated toolpaths in performing manufacturing stepson the workpiece.

At step 125, and still referring to FIG. 1, plurality of discreteobjects is formed from the additively manufactured body of material 200by subtractive manufacturing. Step 125 may be performed using amanufacturing device. Manufacturing device may be operated manually orautomatically or a combination of both. In an embodiment, manufacturingdevice is programed by one or more machine control instructions; the oneor more machine control instructions may be executed using amicrocontroller or other computing device imbedded in or attached tomanufacturing device. Manufacturing device may include one or morecutting tools or abrading tools, including but not limited to mills.Forming discrete object may be performed by removing material accordingto any method described above for subtractive manufacturing. As anon-limiting example, subtractive manufacturing may include milling.Subtractive manufacturing may include the use of EDM, lasers, plasmacutters, water jets, and lathes. Subtractive manufacturing may include aflexible manufacturing system where stabilized workpieces are mounted ontombstones and the tombstones are loaded into a subtractivemanufacturing machine for subtractive manufacturing. Loading andunloading of stabilized workpieces may or may not occur at a location ofsubtractive manufacturing machine and in a flexible manufacturing systemmay be shunted to the next available appropriate subtractivemanufacturing machine.

Still referring to FIG. 1, step 125 may include performing multiplepositionings of additively manufactured body of material 200 at one ormore secondary manufacturing devices; multiple positionings may beperformed by using reference features of frame or additivelymanufactured body of material 200 to located additively manufacturedbody of material 200 in a plurality of different positions within acoordinate system used by a secondary manufacturing device. In anembodiment, subtractive manufacturing may create new features within theadditively manufactured body of material 200 which may be used asreference features for repositioning. Multiple positionings may beperformed with multiple machine setup by using reference features offrame or additively manufactured body of material 200 to locatedadditively manufactured body of material 200 in a plurality of differentpositions within a coordinate system used by a secondary manufacturingdevice. For instance, additively manufactured body of material 200 maybe positioned with a first side up for some machining steps, thenflipped with that side down for subsequent steps; additivelymanufactured body of material 200 may also be turned about a verticalaxis and repositioned using reference features. Multiple positioningsmay be arranged by performing multiple machine setups; i.e., an originor other reference point of secondary manufacturing device may be placedat a first location on additively manufactured body of material 200 fora first set of secondary manufacturing steps and at a second location onadditively manufactured body of material 200 for a second set ofmanufacturing steps, and at further locations as desired for additionalsteps. Alternatively, multiple positionings may occur on multiplesubtractive manufacturing machines.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 1, in an embodiment, one or moreinterconnecting portions of additively manufactured body of material 200may be removed by subtractive manufacturing. Removing theseinterconnecting portions results in the objects, and temporary supportframe 800 if present, becoming discrete structures; discrete structuresmay be held together by only removable fixating material, whereremovable fixating material is used as described below. An efficientexample is present when one side (reverse side) of additivelymanufactured body of material 200 must be processed to remove a uniformthickness across that entire side in the region of discrete objects.Such a situation might occur, for example, when one or more faces ofdiscrete objects are located at a minimum depth from the raw face ofadditively manufactured body of material 200 on that side. In this case,the thickness of interconnecting may be made to be equal to or less thanthat minimum depth. Then, continuing the example, to removeinterconnecting portions and perhaps also at least partially finish eachof discrete objects, one subtractive manufacturing operation may be toremove a uniformly thick region of material from entire reverse side ofstabilized workpiece that removes the interconnecting portions andmaterial from each of precursors to discrete objects as a step towardfinishing each of the discrete objects.

In a further optional step (not shown), and continuing to refer to FIG.1, at least a discrete object of plurality of discrete objects formed atstep 135 may be further processed as desired to finish the at least adiscrete object. Examples of further process include but are not limitedto: secondary machining, polishing, painting, powder coating, plating,silk-screening, and any combination thereof, among others.Fundamentally, there is no limitation on the finishing steps, if any,that may occur at the optional step.

In the foregoing method, the transitions between steps and/or locationsat which the steps are performed may vary from one instantiation toanother. For example, in an instantiation in which there is a millingmachine, such as a CNC milling machine having a movable horizontal x-ybed and a rotational milling tool that moved in the z (vertical)direction, once a CAM model of additively manufactured body of material200, if any, has been provided to the milling machine and additivelymanufactured body of material 200 is properly located for machining bythe CNC milling machine, the machine may be controlled to perform step125 of method 100 so as to subtractively manufacture one or morefeatures or shapes on a first side of the additively manufactured bodyof material 200 while leaving the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 together. Once CNC milling machine has completed machiningon one side of additively manufactured body of material 200 one or moreworkers, robot, or another machine may move the partially milledadditively manufactured body of material 200 to a different position atthe machine, to permit machining of a second side of additivelymanufactured body of material 200. In an embodiment, one or more workersor robotic devices may add removable fixating material prior to themachining of second side of additively manufactured body of material200; this may be performed at a separate location within themanufacturing location, or even a geographically separate location, oralternatively, at the machine; for example, in some instantiations, theadditively manufactured body of material 200 and frame may be placed onthe horizontal x-y bed of the CNC milling machine, where a worker,robotic arm, etc., could install the removable fixating material atstep.

By removing interconnecting portions where present, discrete objects maybecome discrete structures held together only by removable fixatingmaterial, where present. It is noted that uniform-thickness materialremoval from the reverse side of additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 is only an example. Interconnecting portions can be removedin any suitable or desired manner. For example, interconnecting portionsmay be removed from the reverse side without removing any material ofstructures located over any of discrete objects. As another example, ifsome but not all of discrete objects require material removal from thereverse side, that material may be removed along with removal ofinterconnecting portions. Fundamentally, there is no limitation on themanner in which subtractive manufacturing is used to remove bridging toform discrete objects. For instance, interconnecting portions may beremoved from a top side of additively manufactured body of material 200,from a bottom side of the additively manufactured body of material 200,or both; considerations including geometry considerations and/orconsiderations concerning the design of manufacturing device maydetermine how the interconnecting structures are removed. In anembodiment, removable fixating material maintains stability ofadditively manufactured body of material 200 during and after removableof interconnecting portions; thus, for instance, additively manufacturedbody of material 200 may remain stable after interconnecting portionsare removed, so that further subtractive manufacturing may be performedon additively manufactured body of material 200.

If CNC milling machine can perform machining from only one side, thenadditively manufactured body of material 200 may be in a flippedorientation relative to its orientation during the first or subsequentmilling operations of step 125. If CNC milling machine is capable ofmilling from multiple sides of a body of material, then additivelymanufactured body of material 200 may not need to be moved at all priorto the completion of step 125.

Some or all of the steps of method 100 and/or intermediate handlingsteps between the steps of method 100 may be automated to reduce theneed for human interaction and contribution and associated costs. Suchautomation may be implemented using a work cell approach, whereinmultiple steps are performed by one or more multitask or a set ofsingle-task work-cell machines and one or more manipulators, as needed,to move a body of material among the work-cell machines. Alternatively,the automation may be implemented using an assembly-line approach,wherein two or more single and/or multitask machines form an assemblyline with suitable automated and/or manual conveyance means (e.g.,conveyor belts, robots, dollies, push carts, etc.) for moving each bodyof material from one machine to the next. Additionally, method 100 isexemplary and a person of ordinary skill in the art will, after readingthis disclosure in its entirety will readily appreciate that method 100may occur in a different order than show here.

Referring now to FIG. 11, an exemplary embodiment of a plurality ofdiscrete objects 1100 produced at step 125 is illustrated. In anembodiment not shown, at least an extension 208 may be removed bysubtractive manufacturing; in an embodiment, at least an extension 208may be left in place during subtractive manufacturing. At least anextension 208 may be removed afterward using another process, such ascutting with manual cutters, a band saw, or another cutting implement.As noted above, each of plurality of discrete objects 1100 may havefeatures 1104 formed by subtractive manufacturing that were absent fromadditively manufactured body of material 200, such as one or more holes,which may be through-holes or blind holes or holes that have been formedthat subsequently were tapped to produce threads. Discrete objects 1100may have modified features that were present in additively manufacturedbody of material 200; for instance, surfaces of discrete objects mayhave been subtractively manufactured flat or machined to allow atolerance fit, for instance a press-fit for a bearing.

As illustrated for example in FIG. 12, at least one of at least areference feature 212 may be removed. For example, at an optional stepnot illustrated, at least a reference feature 212 may be removed bysubtractive manufacturing, which include any process or combination ofprocesses described above for subtractive manufacturing. At least areference feature 212 may be removed by other means, such as sawing,clipping, cutting, or removal by further manufacturing devices.

In an embodiment, where there is a temporary support frame 800 at leasta portion of which is a part of additively manufactured body of material200, step 125 may include removing a portion of the temporary supportframe 800 using subtractive manufacturing. For instance, where temporarysupport frame 800 includes an integrally attached base portion thatmakes at least an opening a blind opening, the integrally attachedbottom may be removed by subtractive manufacturing so that the side ofthe additively manufactured body of material 200 covered by the baseportion may be accessed for subtractive manufacturing. Lateral portionsof temporary support frame 800 may be partially or wholly removed topermit access to a side of the additively manufactured body of material200. In an embodiment, where additively manufactured body of material200 is placed on a trunnion table, manufacturing device 400 may removematerial from more than one side of additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 in one setup; in that situation, additively manufacturedbody of material 200 may be mounted to trunnion table with all or partof frame removed, allowing machining from multiple directions. Forinstance, a base portion of frame may remain attached to additivelymanufactured body of material 200, and fixed to trunnion table or rotarytable.

Still referring to FIG. 11, at 130, the plurality of discrete objects1100 is removed from the manufacturing device 400. This may beaccomplished manually, or by automated processes as described above,including use of robots or other automated machinery to move pluralityof discrete objects 1100 from one location to another. Plurality ofdiscrete objects 1100 may be subjected to further processing steps asdescribed above; furthermore, at least an extension 208, at least areference feature 212, or both may be removed from plurality of discreteobjects 1100 subsequent to removal from within manufacturing device 40.Where removable fixating material is used, removable fixating materialmay be removed, for instance by melting or dissolving the removablefixating material.

Although in the foregoing illustrative description the manufacturingprocess performed on additively manufactured body of material 200 is asubtractive manufacturing process, in an embodiment some non-subtractivemanufacturing steps are also performed on additively manufactured bodyof material 200; such steps may include without limitation any additivemanufacturing step described above. In an embodiment, additive andsubtractive manufacturing steps are each performed on additivelymanufactured body of material 200.

Similarly, some steps used to produce additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200, including without limitation at least a precursor 204 toplurality of discrete objects, at least an extension 208, and/or atleast a reference feature 212, may include subtractive processes as wellas additive processes. For instance, additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 at least a reference feature 212 receiving an additivelymanufactured body of material 200 may include receiving an additivelymanufactured body of material 200 including a precursor to a discreteobject and at least a precursor 204 to at least a reference feature 212(not shown). Continuing the example, at least a precursor 204 to atleast a reference feature 212 may have any form suitable for a precursorto a discrete object as described above; at least a precursor 204 to atleast a reference feature 212 may include a “near net” version of one ormore of at least a reference feature 212. Alternatively, and stillcontinuing the example, at least a precursor 204 to at least a referencefeature 212 may include a block of material of any suitable shape fromwhich reference features may be manufactured; at least a precursor 204to at least a reference feature 212 may be composed of any material orcombination of materials suitable for the composition of at least aprecursor 204 to a discrete object. Further continuing the example, atleast a precursor 204 to at least a reference feature 212 may bemanufactured according to any manufacturing methods suitable for themanufacture of at least a precursor 204 to a discrete object; at least aprecursor 204 to at least a reference feature 212 may be manufacturedtogether with at least a precursor 204 to a discrete object.

Continuing the example, at least a reference feature 212 may be formed,by subtractive manufacturing, from at least a precursor 204 to at leasta reference feature 212; forming by subtractive manufacturing may beimplemented using any subtractive manufacturing process described above.Further continuing the example, additively manufactured body of material200 additively manufactured body of material 200 at least a referencefeature 212 may be manufactured as a function of a locating feature 416at or within manufacturing device 400; at least a reference feature 212may be subtractively manufactured to fit to locating feature 416 byreceiving subtractive manufacturing control commands directing thesubtractive manufacture of the at least a reference feature 212. Furthercontinuing the example, subtractive manufacturing control commands maybe generated using a computer model or graphical representation of alocating feature 416, or of at least a reference feature 212, atmanufacturing device 400; subtractive manufacturing may be performed asa function of computer model of the locating feature 416 and/or at leasta reference feature 212.

Turning now to FIG. 13, an exemplary method 1300 of manufacturing adiscrete object from an additively manufactured body of material 200,the additively manufactured body of material 200 including at least aprecursor to a plurality of discrete objects, at least an extension, andat least a reference feature, is illustrated. At step 1305, a graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to the plurality of discreteobjects to be machined from the additively manufactured body of material200 is received. At step 1310, a graphical representation of the atleast an extension is received. At step 1315, a graphical representationof the at least a reference feature is received. At step 1320, agraphical representation of a first plane and a graphical representationof a second plane is received, where machining the plurality of discreteobjects from the additively manufactured body of material 200 includesremoval of material from at least one of the first plane and the secondplane. At step 1325, the computer model of the additively manufacturedbody of material 200 is generated; the computer model of the additivelymanufactured body of material 200 includes the graphical representationof the first plane, the graphical representation of the second plane,the graphical representation of the at least a precursor to theplurality of discrete objects to be machined from the additivelymanufactured body of material 200, the graphical representation of atleast an extension, and the graphical representation of the at least areference feature.

In an embodiment, and still viewing FIG. 1, modeling may includedetection of one or more geometric features of objects to be formed frombody of material or of one or more precursor elements in body ofmaterial. Detection of one or more geometric features may includedetection one or more features to form from body of material, forinstance. This may be accomplished, as a non-limiting example, byreceiving one or more user instructions indicating one or more featuresto form. Alternatively or additionally, automated manufacturing system200 and/or computing device 240 may detect at one or more features toform 316 by interrogating discrete object computer model 302.Interrogation, as used herein, is a process whereby a systemincorporating at least a computing device, including without limitationautomated manufacturing system 200 and/or computing device 240, analyzesa graphical model of a body, discrete object, part, product, workpiece,or the like, and extracts information describing one or more featuresrepresented in the graphical model, either as existing features of thebody discrete object, part, product, workpiece or the like, or asfeatures to be added to and/or formed thereon. Information extractedduring interrogation may include, without limitation, geometricalinformation, such as lengths, widths, heights, thicknesses, contours,bend radii, opening sizes and locations, volumes, etc.; part clearances;dimensional tolerances; materials; finishes; purchased components, suchas mechanical fasteners, hinges, handles, latches, etc.; andcertifications. Persons skilled in the art, upon reviewing the entiretyof this disclosure, will be aware of various categories of data that maylikewise be extracted during interrogation. In some embodiments,model-based pricing information may be considered to be parsed into“raw” variables and “processed” variables. Raw variable are variablesthat an interrogator can obtain directly from the computer-model data,and processed variables are variables generated by the interrogator fromraw variables. Processed variables may be thought of as inputs neededfor generating a price but that are not directly available from thecomputer-model data. In the context of an example for machiningfabrication based on a SolidWorks® computer model, raw variables mayinclude face count, surface count, hole count, and counter-bore count,and processed variables may include cutout volume and machiningoperation setup count.

Interrogation may involve parsing and/or analyzing a graphical modelsuch as a three-dimensional computer model including without limitationa CAD model to identify separate elements thereof by reading specificcommands issued by or to a modeling program used to create and/or modifythe graphical model. Interrogation may involve parsing and/or analyzinga graphical model to identify specific routines or functions associatedwith such commands to determine whether they collectively define anindividual element or portion (a “shape,” “solid body,” or “component”)of a 3D computer model. Many CAD systems, including, by way of example,SolidWorks® (registered trademark of Dassault Systemes), include anapplication program interface (API) to enable a user to control theissuance of customized routines or functions associated with suchcommands. Interrogation may involve reading such commands, routines, andfunctions to determine whether they define an individual shape, and, ifso, may analyze various geometric aspects of the defined shape todetermine whether such aspects correspond to one or more manufacturingrequirements for a product to be manufactured based on a 3D computermodel.

As a non-limiting example of interrogation using or based on theSolidWorks CAD program, interrogation may involve reading the“FeatureManager Design Tree” (an outline representation of individualshapes) to determine the number of solid bodies (or shapes) in thedesign. Representations of individual shapes may be found in other CADsoftware files, and other CAD software systems may be used. InSolidWorks, one command usable to analyze the number of solid bodies is:object[ ]bodies=(object[])part.GetBodies2((int)Const.swBodyType_e.swSolidBody,false);and the output is a list of bodies. The foregoing code statement islisted by way of example only; other code statements or sequences may beused. Interrogation may involve analyzing geometric aspects of suchidentified shapes and comparing such aspects to correspondingmanufacturing requirements. In an embodiment, these manufacturingrequirements may include given starting materials. In general,interrogation may be performed using any method, facility, orcombination thereof used for identifying features of a graphical modelof an object, including without limitation methods or facilities used byCAD or CAM systems, for instance for toolpath generation.

In an embodiment, automated manufacturing system 200 and/or computingdevice 240 may identify at least a feature to be formed 316 by comparinga model of discrete object incorporating such features and/or a model ofa part or product to be formed from discrete object to a model ofdiscrete object in which such features are excluded. Interrogation mayfurther provide a modification history of discrete object computer model302 indicating one or more features recently added by a user orautomated process.

Automated manufacturing system 200 and/or computing device 240 mayselect first side 116 based on detected features; for instance,interrogation may produce data indicating that one or more features toform 316 may be formed by inserting a given side of discrete object in arecess and rotating a resulting unified workpiece to render a locationof each feature accessible to a machine tool, for instance on a rotarytable or the like; the given side may therefore be selected as firstside 116. This process may be iterative; for instance, automatedmanufacturing system 200 and/or computer device 240 may identify aninitial first side 116, perform the remaining steps of any methoddisclosed herein for generation and/or manufacture of a supportstructure, such as support structure 100, corresponding to the initialfirst side, then identify a second first side 116 and repeat any and allsuch steps to form an additional support structure. In this way, whereat least a feature to form 316 may not be formed using a single unifiedworkpiece 136 as described above, automated manufacturing system 200and/or computing device 240 may generate models of and/or manufacture aplurality of support structures to enable manufacture of each feature ofat least a feature to form 316. First side 116 may alternatively oradditionally be specified by user input. Persons skilled in the art,upon review of the entirety of this disclosure, will be aware of varioustechniques, APIs, facilities, and/or algorithms for automateddetermination of orientations for manufacture of a given feature on agiven discrete object and/or determination of feasibility of formationof a given feature from a given orientation, for instance using toolpathgeneration programs, machine-control instruction generation programs,“slicers,” and the like.

Still referring to FIG. 13, and also referring to FIG. 14, at step 1305a graphical representation of at least a precursor to a plurality ofdiscrete objects 1400 is received. In an embodiment, graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to discrete object 1400 isreceived at a computing device, such as any computing device asdescribed below in reference to FIG. 20. Graphical representation of atleast a precursor to discrete object 1400 may be received at or openedin a CAD program, CAM program, or other program used for modelingobjects for manufacture. Graphical representation of at least aprecursor to discrete object 1400 may be received from another computingdevice via wired or wireless communication, or from a temporary memorystorage device. Graphical representation of at least a precursor to aplurality of discrete objects 1400 may represent at least a precursor204 to plurality of discrete objects as described above.

Still referring to FIGS. 13 and 14, in an embodiment, receivinggraphical representation of at least a precursor to discrete object 1400involves generating the graphical representation of the at least aprecursor to discrete object 1400. A user may generate graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to discrete object 1400 in amodeling program such as a CAD program by assembling one or moregeometric components of the graphical representation of the at least aprecursor to discrete object 1400; one or more geometric components mayinclude geometric primitives or more complex models.

Continuing to refer to FIGS. 13 and 14, graphical representation of atleast a precursor to discrete object 1400 may be generated as a functionof another model. For example, at an optional step not shown, graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to discrete object 1400 may begenerated as a function of one or more computer models of the pluralityof discrete objects. Referring now to FIG. 15, an exemplary embodimentof a computer model of plurality of discrete objects 1500 isillustrated. Computer model of plurality of discrete objects 1500 may bereceived from another machine or generated by a user in a modelingprogram such as a CAD program; user may generate computer model byassembling geometric components as described above. Graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to discrete object 1400 may begenerated by reproducing one or more geometric features 1504 of computermodel of plurality of discrete objects 1500; one or more geometricfeatures 1504 may be any feature representing at least a geometriccharacteristic 216 of the plurality of discrete objects as describedabove. In an embodiment, graphical representation of at least aprecursor to discrete object 1400 is a graphical representation of a“near net” object as described above; for instance, the geometricrepresentation of at least a precursor to discrete object 1400 may besubstantially identical to computer model of plurality of discreteobjects 1500 except for at least a feature 1508 to be formed, usingsubtractive manufacturing, from an additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 as modeled in method 1300. At least a feature 1508 may beany feature of discrete object to be formed by subtractive manufacturingas described above.

Still referring to FIG. 13, at step 1310, a graphical representation ofthe at least an extension is received. Graphical representation of atleast an extension may represent at least an extension 208 as describedabove. Referring to FIGS. 13 and 16, graphical representation of atleast an extension 1600 may be received from another machine orgenerated by a user in a modeling program such as a CAD program; usermay generate computer model by assembling geometric components asdescribed above. Graphical representation of at least an extension 1600may be generated as a function of one or more other graphicalrepresentations or computer models. The graphical representation of theat least an extension may include a graphical representation of at leastan interconnecting feature that joins at least two of the at least aprecursor to the plurality of discrete objects. For instance, wheregraphical representation of at least an extension 1600 includes agraphical representation of at least an interconnecting feature asdescribed above, graphical representation of at least an extension 1600may be generated as a function of two or more precursors represented bygraphical representation of at least a precursor; the graphicalrepresentation of the at least an interconnecting feature may begenerated to represent any shape, size, form, or material compositiondescribed above for at least an interconnecting feature.

Still referring to FIGS. 13 and 16, where graphical representation of atleast an extension 1600 includes a graphical representation of at leasta support leg as described above, graphical representation of at leastan extension 1600 may be generated as a function a precursor representedby graphical representation of at least a precursor, and of a locatingfeature as described above or a computer model (not shown) of a locatingfeature as described above. As a non-limiting example, locating featuremay be a locating feature at a temporary support frame; graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to plurality of discrete objectsmay be placed in a three-dimensional space representing an opening of atemporary support frame, with graphical representation of at least asupport leg generated to connect the at least a precursor to theplurality of discrete objects to temporary support frame or to alocating feature located at temporary support frame. Graphicalrepresentation of at least a support leg may be generated to representany shape, size, form, or material composition described above for atleast a support leg.

Still referring to FIG. 13, and further referring to FIG. 17, at step1315, a graphical representation 1700 of the at least a referencefeatured is received. Graphical representation of at least a referencefeature graphical representation of at least a reference feature 1700may be received with graphical representation of precursor to discreteobject 1400; for instance, both graphical representation of precursor todiscrete object 1400 and graphical representation of at least areference feature 1700 may be received as part of a single CAD file orfile used in another modeling program. Graphical representation of atleast a reference feature graphical representation of at least areference feature 1700 may be received with graphical representation ofat least an extension 1600; for instance, both graphical representationof at least an extension 1600 and graphical representation of at least areference feature 1700 may be received as part of a single CAD file orfile used in another modeling program. Graphical representation of atleast a reference feature 1700 may be generated. For instance, graphicalrepresentation of at least a reference feature 1700 may be generated asa function of at least a locating feature at a manufacturing device. Inan embodiment, data describing at least a locating feature is received;data may include dimension, shape, or size data of at least a locatingfeature. Data may include a graphical representation of at least alocating feature. Data may be used to generate graphical representationof at least a reference feature 1700; for instance, graphicalrepresentation at least a reference feature 1700 may be generated torepresent a reference feature that fits within a recess or around aprojection. At least a locating feature may include one or more locatingfixtures within manufacturing device 400 as described above. At least alocating feature may include one or more locating fixtures at a support,including without limitation a fixture or temporary support frame 800 asdescribed above. Graphical representation of at least a referencefeature 1700 may be generated to represent any at least a referencefeature described above. For instance, graphical representation of atleast a reference feature 1700 may include at least a projection.Graphical representation of at least a reference feature 1700 mayinclude at least a recess.

Graphical representation of at least a reference feature 1700 mayrepresent reference features located on any part of additivelymanufactured body of material 200 as described above. As a non-limitingexample, graphical representation of at least a reference feature islocated on the graphical representation of at least one of the at leasta precursor to the plurality of discrete objects. Graphicalrepresentation of at least a reference feature is located on thegraphical representation of the at least an extension; this may includelocation of at least a reference feature on at least an interconnectingfeature or on at least a support leg, as described above.

Still referring to FIGS. 13 and 17, in an embodiment, graphicalrepresentation of at least a reference feature 1700 may be formed bysuperimposing a standard feature on the geometry of graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to discrete object 1400 or ofgraphical representation of at least an extension 1600; for instance, astandard shape may be an elongated form that is merged with graphicalrepresentation of at least a precursor to discrete object 1400 or ofgraphical representation of at least an extension 1600 to project aboveand below graphical representation of at least a precursor to discreteobject 1400 or of graphical representation of at least an extension1600, for instance to create representations of first-side referencefeatures 708 and second-side reference features 712 as described abovein reference to FIGS. 7A-B. In some embodiments, a plurality ofgraphical representations of reference features are formed as a functionof a plurality of locating features, such as a plurality of bolt or studholes on a base table, trunnion table, or rotary table, or locatingframe features. In an embodiment, generation of graphical representationof at least a reference feature using a graphical representation of atleast a locating feature, for instance by superimposing a model of onegraphical representation on another and generating a modified model as aresult; techniques for performing this process may follow any means ormethod disclosed in U.S. Non-provisional patent application Ser. No.15/939,209, filed on Mar. 28, 2018, the entirety of which isincorporated herein by reference.

In an embodiment, and still viewing FIG. 17, graphical representation ofat least a reference feature may further include a graphicalrepresentation of a first feature on a first surface of precursor to thediscrete object and a graphical representation of a second feature on asecond surface of precursor to the discrete object; this may beimplemented as described above in reference to FIGS. 1-16. As anon-limiting example, interrogation as described above may demonstratethat, in a first orientation selected as described above for subtractivemanufacture of discrete object, a first set of reference features may berequired to maintain additively manufactured body of material in thatfirst orientation, for instance by joining the first set of referencefeatures to at least a locating feature, while in a second orientation asecond set of reference features may be required to maintain additivelymanufactured body of material in that orientation; automatedmanufacturing device 400 and/or controller 224 may generate each offirst set of reference features and second set of reference features,for instance, by transforming graphical model of at least a precursorinto the first orientation and then second orientation, and performingmethods as described further herein for generation of graphicalrepresentations of first set of reference features and second set ofreference features in each orientation.

With continued reference to FIG. 17, in an embodiment, graphicalrepresentation of the at least a reference feature further includes agraphical representation of a first reference feature that extends afirst distance from a first surface of the precursor to the discreteobject and a graphical representation of a second reference feature thatextends a second distance from a second surface of the precursor to thediscrete object; as noted above, the first distance may be greater thanthe second distance. This may be performed, for instance, viainterrogation as disclosed above; in a selected orientation, a portionof a surface facing at least a locating feature may be at a greaterdistance from the at least a locating feature than another portion, asdetermined by, for instance, geometric analysis of a model combining amodel of at least a locating feature with a model of at least aprecursor, based upon which first reference feature and second referencefeature may be generated with differing lengths to maintain at least aprecursor in the selected orientation when at least a reference featureis joined to at least a locating feature.

Still referring to FIGS. 13 and 17, at step 1320 a graphicalrepresentation of a first plane 1704 and a graphical representation of asecond plane 1708 is received, where machining the plurality of discreteobjects from the additively manufactured body of material 200 includesremoval of material from at least one of the first plane and the secondplane. As a non-limiting example, first plane 1704 may include a surfaceof additively manufactured body of material 200 from which material isremoved when additively manufactured body of material 200 is in a firstorientation; second plane 1708 may include a surface of additivelymanufactured body of material 200 from which material is removed whenadditively manufactured body of material 200 is in a first orientation.In an embodiment, generating the computer model of the additivelymanufactured body of material 200 may include generating the computermodels of the first plane and the second plane as a function of the atleast a computer model of the at least a precursor to the plurality ofdiscrete objects to be machined from the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200.

At step 1325, the computer model of the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 is generated; the computer model of the additivelymanufactured body of material 200 includes the graphical representationof the first plane, the graphical representation of the second plane,the graphical representation of the at least a precursor to theplurality of discrete objects to be machined from the additivelymanufactured body of material 200, the graphical representation of atleast an extension, and the graphical representation of the at least areference feature.

In an additional optional step not shown, additive manufacture controlinstructions may be generated as a function of computer model of body ofmaterial. Additive manufacture control instructions may be transmittedto an additive manufacturing device to manufacture precursor to discreteobject, at least a reference feature, or additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200, for instance as described above.

Subtractive machine control instructions may be generated in anotheroptional step not illustrated as a function of computer model of body ofmaterial. Subtractive machine control instructions may be transmitted toa manufacturing device 400, for instance instructing manufacturingdevice to manufacture a discrete object as described above. This may beimplemented as described below in reference to FIGS. 18 and/or 19. In anembodiment, generating model of an additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 in accordance with the disclosed method improves thefunction of computer modeling programs such as CAD programs by enhancingthe ability of computer modeling programs to design manufacturingprocesses; improvements may include the ability to plan manufacturingprocesses that combine the geometric flexibility of additivemanufacturing with the precision and speed of subtractive manufacturingprocesses. In an embodiment, generating model of an additivelymanufactured body of material 200 in accordance with the disclosedmethod improves manufacturing processes and technology by enablingoptimal combination of additive and subtractive manufacturingtechniques; improvements may include the ability to use manufacturingprocesses that combine the geometric flexibility of additivemanufacturing with the precision and speed of subtractive manufacturingprocesses.

In an embodiment, and still viewing FIG. 17, automated manufacturingdevice 400 and/or controller 424 may initiate manufacture of theadditively manufactured body of material as a function of the graphicalrepresentation of the additively manufactured body of material. This maybe performed as described above in reference to FIGS. 1-16, and/or asdescribed in any material incorporated herein by reference. Initiationof manufacture may include performance of a first step in the removal ofmaterial from additively manufactured body of material and/or additionof material to additively manufactured body of material as describedabove; first step may include a particular milling or cutting operation,such as the performance of a registration cut. First step may includelocation of body of material at an automated manufacturing device;location may include placement in a precise position and/or registrationwithin a coordinate system used by automated manufacturing device toguide particular manufacturing steps. First step may include generationof a control instruction initiating manufacturing steps; generation of acontrol instruction may include transmission of a signal to initiatemanufacture and/or transmission of any machine control instruction setsgenerated as described above, including without limitation transmissionof information for localized and machine-specific machine-controlinstruction generation. Transmission may be direct or indirect; forinstance, transission may involve transmission to a remote device thatrelays transmission to an automated manufacturing device or computingdevice coupled thereto, or transmission to an auxiliary computing deviceor computer memory for transport to the automated manufacturing deviceand/or computing device coupled thereto. Initiation of manufacture mayinclude initiating additive manufacture of the additively manufacturedbody of material as a function of the graphical representation of theadditively manufactured body of material. Initiating manufacture mayinclude initiating subtractive manufacture of at least a discrete objectfrom the additively manufactured body of material; this may be performedas a function of graphical representation of additively manufacture bodyof material, a graphical representation of one or more discrete objects,or both.

With continued reference to FIG. 17, automated manufacturing device 400and/or controller 424 may generate at least a machine-controlinstruction to subtractively manufacture at least a discrete object fromthe additively manufactured body of material. This may be performed asdescribed above in reference to FIGS. 1-16, and/or as described in anymaterial incorporated herein by reference. Generating the at least amachine-control instruction may include receiving a graphicalrepresentation of the at least a discrete object and generating the atleast a machine-control instruction as a function of the graphicalrepresentation of the at least a discrete object, for example andwithout limitation as described above in reference to FIGS. 1-16 and/orin any material incorporated herein by reference. Controller 424 mayinitiate manufacture of the additive body of material and/or discreteobject. This may be performed as described above in reference to FIGS.1-16, and/or as described in any material incorporated herein byreference. Initiation of manufacture may include performance of a firststep in the removal of material from additively manufactured body ofmaterial and/or addition of material to additively manufactured body ofmaterial as described above; first step may include a particular millingor cutting operation, such as the performance of a registration cut.First step may include location of body of material at an automatedmanufacturing device; location may include placement in a preciseposition and/or registration within a coordinate system used byautomated manufacturing device to guide particular manufacturing steps.First step may include generation of a control instruction initiatingmanufacturing steps; generation of a control instruction may includetransmission of a signal to initiate manufacture and/or transmission ofany machine control instruction sets generated as described above,including without limitation transmission of information for localizedand machine-specific machine-control instruction generation.Transmission may be direct or indirect; for instance, transmission mayinvolve transmission to a remote device that relays transmission to anautomated manufacturing device or computing device coupled thereto, ortransmission to an auxiliary computing device or computer memory fortransport to the automated manufacturing device and/or computing devicecoupled thereto. Initiation of manufacture may include initiatingadditive manufacture of the additively manufactured body of material asa function of the graphical representation of the additivelymanufactured body of material. Initiating manufacture may includeinitiating subtractive manufacture of at least a discrete object fromthe additively manufactured body of material; this may be performed as afunction of graphical representation of additively manufacture body ofmaterial, a graphical representation of one or more discrete objects, orboth.

In an embodiment, methods and systems described above improve theefficiency of manufacturing processes by permitting an additivelymanufactured body to be set up at a manufacturing device using features,created during additive manufacturing, that match up to features of themanufacturing device. As the additive process may be modeled to createsuch reference features automatically, this may eliminate the need forskilled or time-consuming setup procedures; a person with relativelylittle training may set up a workpiece so produced by mating anadditively created reference feature to a corresponding feature at themanufacturing device. As a result, one or more setups may be performedrapidly and at little cost. Subtractive manufacturing may be used toremove reference features that are no longer required.

Referring now to FIG. 18, an exemplary embodiment of a method 1800 ofgenerating a machine-control instruction set adapted to controlmachining equipment to machine a plurality of discrete objects from anadditively manufactured body of material 200 including at least aprecursor to a plurality of discrete objects, at least an extension, atleast a reference feature, and a first plane and a second plane isillustrated. At step 1805, a computer model of an additivelymanufactured body of material 200 is generated. At step 1810, computermodel of additively manufactured body of material 200 is generated bysteps that include receiving a computer model of an additivelymanufactured body of material 200, wherein the computer model of theadditively manufactured body of material 200 includes computer models ofthe first plane and the second plane, at least a computer model of theat least a precursor to the plurality of discrete objects to be machinedfrom the additively manufactured body of material 200, a computer modelof the at least an extension, and a computer model of the at least areference feature. At step 1815, computer model of additivelymanufactured body of material 200 is generated by steps that includereceiving spatial bounds of the body of material. At step 1820, amachine-control instruction set based on the foregoing steps isgenerated. Machine-control instruction set is generated so as to remove,from the first plane of the additively manufactured body of material200, a portion of at least a precursor to the plurality of discreteobjects, and to remove, from the second plane of the additivelymanufactured body of material 200, at least a second portion of at leasta precursor to the plurality of discrete objects.

Still referring now to FIG. 18, computer model of additivelymanufactured body of material 200 is generated by steps that includereceiving a computer model of an additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200, wherein the computer model of the additively manufacturedbody of material 200 includes computer models of the first plane and thesecond plane, at least a computer model of the at least a precursor tothe plurality of discrete objects to be machined from the additivelymanufactured body of material 200, a computer model of the at least anextension, and a computer model of the at least a reference feature. Asa non-limiting example, this may be accomplished as described above inreference to FIG. 13. In an embodiment, generating the computer model ofthe additively manufactured body of material 200 involves generating thecomputer models of the first plane and the second plane as a function ofthe at least a computer model of the at least a precursor to theplurality of discrete objects to be machined from the additivelymanufactured body of material 200.

At step 1815, computer model of additively manufactured body of material200 is generated by steps that include receiving spatial bounds of theadditively manufactured body of material 200. Spatial bounds of the bodyof material may be defined according to a coordinate system; forinstance, where computer model of additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 is generated with a CAD program, CAM program, or similarmodeling or manufacture design program, a coordinate system used toscale, orient, or design the computer model of additively manufacturedbody of material 200 may also be used to define spatial bounds ofadditively manufactured body of material 200. Where manufacturing device400 at which machine-control instruction set is to be implementedreceives instructions by reference to a coordinate system, such as maybe the case where the manufacturing device 400 is a CNC machine, spatialbounds may be defined according to that coordinate system. Spatialbounds may define a distance from an origin of coordinate system beyondwhich additively manufactured body of material 200 does not extend.Spatial bounds may define a curved, polyhedral, or other soliddescribing a space in which additively manufactured body is whollycontained, such as a rectangular prism, sphere, or other form.

At step 1820, a machine-control instruction set based on the foregoingsteps is generated. Generated machine-control instruction set containsthe instructions for controlling a manufacturing device 400, such as oneor more pieces of numerical control (NC) machining equipment, such asone or more NC milling machines, to perform the machining on theadditively manufactured body of material 200 to create plurality ofdiscrete objects. Generating the machine-control instruction setaccounts for, among other things, 1) computer models of i) plurality ofdiscrete objects, ii) at least an extension, and iii) at least areference feature, 2) the secondary manufacturing device 400 or devicesto be used, including any particular tool(s), 3) the actual dimensionsof the additively manufactured body of material 200, including withoutlimitation spatial bounds of the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 as described above, 4) any datum(s) provided to properlylocate the additively manufactured body of material 200 relative to themachining equipment, including without limitation data describing the atleast a reference feature, and 5) separate machining steps for removingmaterial from an first side of the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200 and for removing material from a second side of theadditively manufactured body of material 200.

As a simple example in which one single-ended CNC end mill is used forall of the milling on the first and second sides of additivelymanufactured body of material 200, the machine-control instruction setincludes instructions for directing the cutting tool of the end millalong a first path on the first side of the additively manufactured bodyof material 200 that forms features on a corresponding side of pluralityof discrete objects to be formed from the additively manufactured bodyof material 200, and 2) instructions for directing the cutting tool ofthe end mill along a second path on the second side of the additivelymanufactured body of material 200 for to form features on acorresponding side of plurality of discrete objects to be formed fromthe additively manufactured body of material 200.

As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the machine-controlinstruction set may be generated as a function of 1) the specificmachining tool(s) (e.g., milling bit(s)) that will be used during themachining of the additively manufactured body of material 200 to createplurality of discrete objects as well as 2) the size of the additivelymanufactured body of material 200. It is noted that the specificmachining tool(s) have been at least partially accounted for in theprocess of defining the offsets for the objects and any occupyingstructures. The size of additively manufactured body of material 200,for instance as defined by spatial limits of the additively manufacturedbody of material 200, is used to define where the machining equipmentwill actually be removing material and engaging the additivelymanufactured body of material 200. Other inputs, such as type ofmaterial (e.g., to control machining speed), may also be used forgenerating the machine-control instruction set as needed or desired. Thegeneration of the machine-control instruction set may be performedautomatically, such as by intelligent CAM software (e.g., CAMWORKS®software available from Geometric Technologies, Inc., Scottsdale,Ariz.), performed semi-automatically with the assistance of a user (suchas when the CAM software does not have intelligence on how to handlecertain physical features), or under the complete control of a user.

Machine-control instruction set is generated so as to remove, from thefirst plane of the additively manufactured body of material 200, aportion of at least a precursor to the plurality of discrete objects,and to remove, from the second plane of the additively manufactured bodyof material 200, at least a second portion of at least a precursor tothe plurality of discrete objects. Machine-control instruction set maybe generated to operate within spatial bounds of additively manufacturedbody of material 200; in some embodiments, machine-control instructionsets involve a series of motions from or by reference to an origin pointwithin a coordinate system as described above. In some embodiments,machine-control instruction set is based upon one or more features to beformed in additively manufactured body of material 200 to produceplurality of discrete objects. For instance, generating machine-controlinstruction set may include receiving a computer model of at least adiscrete object of the plurality of discrete objects to be machined fromthe additively manufactured body of material 200, generating, as afunction of the computer model of the at least a discrete object, themachine-control instruction set. Machine-control instruction set mayfurther be generated as a function of computer model of additivelymanufactured body of material 200; for instance, a tool path may use anexterior shape of additively manufactured body of material 200, asrepresented by the computer model of the additively manufactured body ofmaterial 200, to guide motion of manufacturing tool 404.

Referring now to FIG. 19, an exemplary embodiment of a method 1900 ofgenerating a machine-control instruction set adapted to controlmachining equipment to machine a plurality of discrete objects from anadditively manufactured body of material 200 including at least aprecursor to a plurality of discrete objects, at least an extension, atleast a reference feature, and a first plane and a second plane isillustrated. At step 1905, a computer model of an additivelymanufactured body of material 200 is generated. This may be implementedfor example as described above in reference to FIG. 18. At step 1910,computer model of additively manufactured body of material 200 isgenerated by steps that include displaying to a user, on a computerdisplay, a graphical representation of an additively manufactured bodyof material 200, wherein the graphical representation of the additivelymanufactured body of material 200 includes graphical representations ofthe first plane and the second plane, at least a graphicalrepresentation of the at least a precursor to the plurality of discreteobjects to be machined from the additively manufactured body of material200, a graphical representation of the at least an extension, and agraphical representation of the at least a reference feature. This maybe implemented, as a non-limiting example, as described above inreference to step 1810 of FIG. 18. Display to user may be accomplishedusing a graphical user interface, such as any graphical user interfaceused or usable with a CAD or CAM program; the display may be physicallyaccomplished using any display as described below in reference to FIG.20.

At step 1915, computer model of additively manufactured body of material200 is generated by steps that include receiving spatial bounds of thebody of material. This may be accomplished for instance as describedabove for step 1815. At step 1920, a machine-control instruction setbased on the foregoing steps is generated. Machine-control instructionset is generated so as to remove, from the first plane of the additivelymanufactured body of material 200, a portion of at least a precursor tothe plurality of discrete objects, and to remove, from the second planeof the additively manufactured body of material 200, at least a secondportion of at least a precursor to the plurality of discrete objects.Step 1920 may be implemented, as a non-limiting example, according toany method described for implementation of step 1820 above.

It is to be noted that any one or more of the aspects and embodimentsdescribed herein may be conveniently implemented using one or moremachines (e.g., one or more computing devices that are utilized as auser computing device for an electronic document, one or more serverdevices, such as a document server, etc.) programmed according to theteachings of the present specification, as will be apparent to those ofordinary skill in the computer art. Appropriate software coding canreadily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of thepresent disclosure, as will be apparent to those of ordinary skill inthe software art. Aspects and implementations discussed above employingsoftware and/or software modules may also include appropriate hardwarefor assisting in the implementation of the machine executableinstructions of the software and/or software module.

Such software may be a computer program product that employs amachine-readable storage medium. A machine-readable storage medium maybe any medium that is capable of storing and/or encoding a sequence ofinstructions for execution by a machine (e.g., a computing device) andthat causes the machine to perform any one of the methodologies and/orembodiments described herein. Examples of a machine-readable storagemedium include, but are not limited to, a magnetic disk, an optical disc(e.g., CD, CD-R, DVD, DVD-R, etc.), a magneto-optical disk, a read-onlymemory “ROM” device, a random access memory “RAM” device, a magneticcard, an optical card, a solid-state memory device, an EPROM, an EEPROM,and any combinations thereof. A machine-readable medium, as used herein,is intended to include a single medium as well as a collection ofphysically separate media, such as, for example, a collection of compactdiscs or one or more hard disk drives in combination with a computermemory. As used herein, a machine-readable storage medium does notinclude transitory forms of signal transmission.

Such software may also include information (e.g., data) carried as adata signal on a data carrier, such as a carrier wave. For example,machine-executable information may be included as a data-carrying signalembodied in a data carrier in which the signal encodes a sequence ofinstruction, or portion thereof, for execution by a machine (e.g., acomputing device) and any related information (e.g., data structures anddata) that causes the machine to perform any one of the methodologiesand/or embodiments described herein.

Examples of a computing device include, but are not limited to, anelectronic book reading device, a computer workstation, a terminalcomputer, a server computer, a handheld device (e.g., a tablet computer,a smartphone, etc.), a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, any machine capable of executing a sequence ofinstructions that specify an action to be taken by that machine, and anycombinations thereof. In one example, a computing device may includeand/or be included in a kiosk.

FIG. 20 shows a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of acomputing device in the exemplary form of a computer system 2000 withinwhich a set of instructions, such as certain steps of FIG. 1, forcausing a control system to perform any one or more of the aspectsand/or methodologies of the present disclosure may be executed. It isalso contemplated that multiple computing devices may be utilized toimplement a specially configured set of instructions for causing one ormore of the devices to perform any one or more of the aspects and/ormethodologies of the present disclosure. Computer system 2000 includes aprocessor 2004 and a memory 2008 that communicate with each other, andwith other components, via a bus 2012. Bus 2012 may include any ofseveral types of bus structures including, but not limited to, a memorybus, a memory controller, a peripheral bus, a local bus, and anycombinations thereof, using any of a variety of bus architectures.

Memory 2008 may include various components (e.g., machine-readablemedia) including, but not limited to, a random access memory component,a read only component, and any combinations thereof. In one example, abasic input/output system 2016 (BIOS), including basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within computer system2000, such as during start-up, may be stored in memory 2008. Memory 2008may also include (e.g., stored on one or more machine-readable media)instructions (e.g., software) 2020 embodying any one or more of theaspects and/or methodologies of the present disclosure. In anotherexample, memory 2008 may further include any number of program modulesincluding, but not limited to, an operating system, one or moreapplication programs, other program modules, program data, and anycombinations thereof.

Computer system 2000 may also include a storage device 2024. Examples ofa storage device (e.g., storage device 2024) include, but are notlimited to, a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, an optical discdrive in combination with an optical medium, a solid-state memorydevice, and any combinations thereof. Storage device 2024 may beconnected to bus 2012 by an appropriate interface (not shown). Exampleinterfaces include, but are not limited to, SCSI, advanced technologyattachment (ATA), serial ATA, universal serial bus (USB), IEEE 1394(FIREWIRE), and any combinations thereof. In one example, storage device2024 (or one or more components thereof) may be removably interfacedwith computer system 2000 (e.g., via an external port connector (notshown)). Particularly, storage device 2024 and an associatedmachine-readable medium 2028 may provide nonvolatile and/or volatilestorage of machine-readable instructions, data structures, programmodules, and/or other data for computer system 2000. In one example,software 2020 may reside, completely or partially, withinmachine-readable medium 2028. In another example, software 2020 mayreside, completely or partially, within processor 2004.

Computer system 2000 may also include an input device 2032. In oneexample, a user of computer system 2000 may enter commands and/or otherinformation into computer system 2000 via input device 2032. Examples ofan input device 2032 include, but are not limited to, an alpha-numericinput device (e.g., a keyboard), a pointing device, a joystick, agamepad, an audio input device (e.g., a microphone, a voice responsesystem, etc.), a cursor control device (e.g., a mouse), a touchpad, anoptical scanner, a video capture device (e.g., a still camera, a videocamera), a touchscreen, and any combinations thereof. Input device 2032may be interfaced to bus 2012 via any of a variety of interfaces (notshown) including, but not limited to, a serial interface, a parallelinterface, a game port, a USB interface, a FIREWIRE interface, a directinterface to bus 2012, and any combinations thereof. Input device 2032may include a touch screen interface that may be a part of or separatefrom display 2036, discussed further below. Input device 2032 may beutilized as a user selection device for selecting one or more graphicalrepresentations in a graphical interface as described above.

A user may also input commands and/or other information to computersystem 2000 via storage device 2024 (e.g., a removable disk drive, aflash drive, etc.) and/or network interface device 2040. A networkinterface device, such as network interface device 2040, may be utilizedfor connecting computer system 2000 to one or more of a variety ofnetworks, such as network 2044, and one or more remote devices 2048connected thereto. Examples of a network interface device include, butare not limited to, a network interface card (e.g., a mobile networkinterface card, a LAN card), a modem, and any combination thereof.Examples of a network include, but are not limited to, a wide areanetwork (e.g., the Internet, an enterprise network), a local areanetwork (e.g., a network associated with an office, a building, a campusor other relatively small geographic space), a telephone network, a datanetwork associated with a telephone/voice provider (e.g., a mobilecommunications provider data and/or voice network), a direct connectionbetween two computing devices, and any combinations thereof. A network,such as network 2044, may employ a wired and/or a wireless mode ofcommunication. In general, any network topology may be used. Information(e.g., data, software 2020, etc.) may be communicated to and/or fromcomputer system 2000 via network interface device 2040.

Computer system 2000 may further include a video display adapter 2052for communicating a displayable image to a display device, such asdisplay device 2036. Examples of a display device include, but are notlimited to, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT), aplasma display, a light emitting diode (LED) display, and anycombinations thereof. Display adapter 2052 and display device 2036 maybe utilized in combination with processor 2004 to provide graphicalrepresentations of aspects of the present disclosure. In addition to adisplay device, computer system 2000 may include one or more otherperipheral output devices including, but not limited to, an audiospeaker, a printer, and any combinations thereof. Such peripheral outputdevices may be connected to bus 2012 via a peripheral interface 2056.Examples of a peripheral interface include, but are not limited to, aserial port, a USB connection, a FIREWIRE connection, a parallelconnection, and any combinations thereof.

The foregoing has been a detailed description of illustrativeembodiments of the invention. Various modifications and additions can bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.Features of each of the various embodiments described above may becombined with features of other described embodiments as appropriate inorder to provide a multiplicity of feature combinations in associatednew embodiments. Furthermore, while the foregoing describes a number ofseparate embodiments, what has been described herein is merelyillustrative of the application of the principles of the presentinvention. Additionally, although particular methods herein may beillustrated and/or described as being performed in a specific order, theordering is highly variable within ordinary skill to achieve methods,systems, and software according to the present disclosure. Accordingly,this description is meant to be taken only by way of example, and not tootherwise limit the scope of this invention.

Furthermore, the foregoing has been a detailed description ofillustrative embodiments of the invention. It is noted that in thepresent specification and claims appended hereto, conjunctive languagesuch as is used in the phrases “at least one of X, Y and Z” and “one ormore of X, Y, and Z,” unless specifically stated or indicated otherwise,shall be taken to mean that each item in the conjunctive list can bepresent in any number exclusive of every other item in the list or inany number in combination with any or all other item(s) in theconjunctive list, each of which may also be present in any number.Applying this general rule, the conjunctive phrases in the foregoingexamples in which the conjunctive list consists of X, Y, and Z shalleach encompass: one or more of X; one or more of Y; one or more of Z;one or more of X and one or more of Y; one or more of Y and one or moreof Z; one or more of X and one or more of Z; and one or more of X, oneor more of Y and one or more of Z.

Various modifications and additions can be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of this invention. Features of each of the variousembodiments described above may be combined with features of otherdescribed embodiments as appropriate in order to provide a multiplicityof feature combinations in associated new embodiments. Furthermore,while the foregoing describes a number of separate embodiments, what hasbeen described herein is merely illustrative of the application of theprinciples of the present invention. Additionally, although particularmethods herein may be illustrated and/or described as being performed ina specific order, the ordering is highly variable within ordinary skillto achieve aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, thisdescription is meant to be taken only by way of example, and not tootherwise limit the scope of this invention.

Exemplary embodiments have been disclosed above and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. It will be understood by those skilled in the artthat various changes, omissions and additions may be made to that whichis specifically disclosed herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for manufacturing a plurality ofdiscrete objects from an additively manufactured body of material from acomputer model of the additively manufactured body of material, theadditively manufactured body of material including at least a precursorto the plurality of discrete objects, at least an extension, and atleast a reference feature, the system comprising: an automatedmanufacturing device, the automated manufacturing device comprising atleast a controller configured to receive a graphical representation ofthe at least a precursor to the plurality of discrete objects to bemachined from the additively manufactured body of material, receive agraphical representation of the at least an extension, receive agraphical representation of the at least a reference feature, receive agraphical representation of a first plane and a graphical representationof a second plane, and generate the computer model of the additivelymanufactured body of material, wherein the computer model of theadditively manufactured body of material includes the graphicalrepresentation of the first plane, the graphical representation of thesecond plane, the graphical representation of the at least a precursorto the plurality of discrete objects to be machined from the additivelymanufactured body of material, the graphical representation of at leastan extension, and the graphical representation of the at least areference feature wherein the graphical representation of at least areference feature is located on the graphical representation of the atleast an extension.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the automatedmanufacturing device further comprises at least a manufacturing tool. 3.The system of claim 2, wherein the at least a manufacturing tool furthercomprises an additive manufacturing tool.
 4. The system of claim 3,wherein the controller is further configured to manufacture theadditively manufactured body of material using the additivemanufacturing tool.
 5. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least amanufacturing tool further comprises a subtractive manufacturing tool.6. The system of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configuredto subtractively manufacture a plurality of discrete objects from theadditively manufacture body of material.
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein the controller is further configured to generate at least amachine-control instruction to additively manufacture at least adiscrete object from the additively manufactured body of material. 8.The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured togenerate at least a machine-control instruction to subtractivelymanufacture at least a discrete object from the additively manufacturedbody of material.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller isfurther configured to receive a graphical representation of the at leasta discrete object; and generate the at least a machine-controlinstruction as a function of the graphical representation of the atleast a discrete object.
 10. A method of manufacturing a discrete objectfrom an additively manufactured body of material, the additivelymanufactured body of material including at least a precursor to aplurality of discrete objects, at least an extension, and at least areference feature, the method comprising: receiving a graphicalrepresentation of the at least a precursor to the plurality of discreteobjects to be machined from the additively manufactured body ofmaterial; receiving a graphical representation of the at least anextension; receiving a graphical representation of the at least areference feature; receiving a graphical representation of a first planeand a graphical representation of a second plane; and generating thecomputer model of the additively manufactured body of material, whereinthe computer model of the additively manufactured body of materialincludes the graphical representation of the first plane, the graphicalrepresentation of the second plane, the graphical representation of theat least a precursor to the plurality of discrete objects to be machinedfrom the additively manufactured body of material, the graphicalrepresentation of the at least an extension, and the graphicalrepresentation of the at least a reference feature; wherein thegraphical representation of at least a reference feature is located onthe graphical representation of the at least an extension.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the graphical representation of the at leastan extension includes a graphical representation of at least aninterconnecting feature that joins at least two of the at least aprecursor to the plurality of discrete objects.
 12. The method of claim11, wherein receiving the graphical representation of the at least anextension further comprises generating the graphical representation ofat least an interconnecting feature as a function of the graphicalrepresentation of the at least two of the at least a precursor to theplurality of discrete objects.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein thegraphical representation of the at least an extension includes agraphical representation of at least a support leg extending from atleast one of the at least a precursor to the plurality of discreteobjects.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphicalrepresentation of at least a reference feature is further located on thegraphical representation of at least one of the at least a precursor tothe plurality of discrete objects.
 15. The method of claim 10, whereinreceiving the graphical representation of the at least a referencefeature further comprises generating the graphical representation of theat least a reference feature as a function of at least a locatingfeature within a manufacturing device.
 16. The method of claim 10,wherein receiving the graphical representation of the at least areference feature further comprises generating the graphicalrepresentation of the at least a reference feature as a function of atleast a locating feature within a support.
 17. The method of claim 10,wherein receiving the graphical representation of the at least aprecursor to the plurality of discrete objects further comprises:receiving one or more computer models of the plurality of discreteobjects; and generating the graphical representation of the at least aprecursor to the plurality of discrete objects as a function of the oneor more computer models of the plurality of discrete objects.
 18. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the graphical representation of the at leasta reference feature includes at least a projection.
 19. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the graphical representation of the at least areference feature includes at least a recess.
 20. The method of claim10, wherein the graphical representation of the at least a referencefeature further comprises: a graphical representation of a first featureon a first surface of the at least a precursor to the discrete object;and a graphical representation of a second feature on a second surfaceof the at least a precursor to the discrete object.
 21. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the graphical representation of the at least areference feature further comprises: a graphical representation of afirst reference feature that extends a first distance from a firstsurface of at least one of the of at least one of the precursor and atleast an extension precursor and at least an extension to the discreteobject; and a graphical representation of a second reference featurethat extends a second distance from a second surface of at least one ofthe precursor and at least an extension to the discrete object, whereinthe first distance is greater than the second distance.
 22. The methodof claim 10 further comprising initiating manufacture of the additivelymanufactured body of material as a function of the graphicalrepresentation of the additively manufactured body of material.
 23. Themethod of claim 22, wherein generating the at least a machine-controlinstruction further comprises: receiving a graphical representation ofthe at least a discrete object; and generating the at least amachine-control instruction as a function of the graphicalrepresentation of the at least a discrete object.
 24. The method ofclaim 10, further comprising generating at least a machine-controlinstruction to subtractively manufacture at least a discrete object fromthe additively manufactured body of material.
 25. The method of claim 10further comprising initiating subtractive manufacture of at least adiscrete object from the additively manufactured body of material.